Let's make this birthday one to remember.

90 years old (Born on December 05, 1934)

Happy Birthday, Joan Didion! May your celebrations be brighter than California sunshine—and less complicated than the cultural unraveling you've so brilliantly detailed. From Slouching Towards Bethlehem’s vibrant essays that still resonate decades later to Play It As It Lays bearing truths raw enough to shake even Hollywood, you’ve shown us how reality can surpass fiction in drama and profundity alike.

Your revered memoir The Year of Magical Thinking turned personal grief into a universal affirmation of human resilience—an achievement few could match or ever forget. Here’s wishing today brings as much joy as your words bring wisdom (and perhaps fewer existential questions!).