American author Joan Didion, who rose to prominence in 1960s, dies at 87

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American writer Joan Didion, an essayist and novelist who rose to prominence in the 1960s, has died at age 87, CNN reported on Thursday (local time).

Didion was a leading figure of the New Journalism movement in the 1960s and '70s. During her prolific career, she published multiple volumes of essays, nonfiction books, memoirs, novels and screenplays. She was known for her distinctive prose, and rose to fame with essay collections such as 1968's "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" and 1979's "The White Album."

Her memoir "The Year of Magical Thinking" won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2005.

In 2013, former President Barack Obama awarded Didion the National Humanities Medal in the East Room of the White House, calling her "one of our sharpest and most respected observers of American politics and culture," CNN reported.