Sacramento City College renaming library after famous author

(FOX40.COM) — Sacramento City College is renaming its library in honor of author and Sacramento native Joan Didion.

The college said the renaming comes after the Didion family and the Sacramento Historical Society made a $500,000 donation which will ” support writing scholarships for students as well as faculty research programs that align with the late author’s intellectual interests.”

“What a great honor it is to name our college’s Learning Resource Center after Joan Didion,” said Sacramento City College President Albert Garcia. “We’re proud that she started her college career here. Her status as an author of international renown, as a creative and incisive thinker, makes her a wonderful inspiration for our college community.”

According to the college, Didion “briefly” attended the college in the 1950s.

Following her death in 2021, the Sacramento Historical Society started an initiative to honor the acclaimed author including starting a $40,000 Joan Didion Scholarship for Writers at the college.

After learning about the effort, the Didion family made a donation to the society with the request that it go to supporting writers and other programs at the college.

“On behalf of my siblings, I wish to thank the Sacramento Historical Society for not only facilitating this gift to the writing scholarship, but having the vision to bring other promising programs to students at Sacramento City College,” said Kelley Didion Peters, Didion’s niece. “We also thank Sac City for its decision to rename the learning center to further her legacy as a former student and Sacramento native.”

Didion, who was born in Sacramento in 1934, first gained attention as a cultural and political essayist. She also wrote screenplays for several movies including the 1976 remake of “A Star is Born” and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for her book “The Year of Magical Thinking”.

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