UCLA Live revealed that “due to injury,” author Joan Didion has cancelled her scheduled conversation with Mona Simpson in April.

The Los Angeles Times has an update: “She was at lunch and ‘banged her leg,’ said Paul Bogaards, Knopf’s executive director of publicity and marketing.”

The Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB) dedicated an entire week of essays to Joan Didion and her new memoir Blue Nights. Six writers shared their thoughts about the new book; one essay was published each day this week.

The group includes LARB senior fiction editor Matthew Specktor, Take One Candle Light a Room author Susan Straight, literary journalism professor Amy Wilentz, Cool Shades author Amy Emphron and LA Times columnist Meghan Daum. The last piece, written by Los Angeles Without a Map novelist Richard Rayner, will be published tomorrow.

LARB editor-in-chief Tom Lutz gave this statement in the release: “Didion is an icon of literary L.A. despite living in New York much of her life. In 1976 she wrote that ‘[t]o shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.’ That attention to style, structure, perspective, and meaning animates the essays we’re featuring this week.”

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Film and stage legend Vanessa Redgrave will narrate the audiobook edition of Joan Didion‘s upcoming memoir, Blue Nights.

The book will explore the tragic death of Didion’s daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne. In 2007, Redgrave played the great journalist in the theatrical adaptation of another Didion book, The Year of Magical Thinking.

Here’s more from the Joan Didion Info blog: “in 2009, Vanessa Redgrave’s daughter, the actress Natasha Richardson died in a skiing accident in Canada … The resemblance of their personal tragedies seemed to give rise to a close friendship between the two women. Didion was reported at the time to have visited Richardson in hospital in New York shortly before she died.”

In the 1980s, novelist Joan Didion collaborated with her late husband John Gregory Dunne on a script for Norman Mailer‘s novel, The Deer Park. The adaptation has collected dust ever since.

Now Mailer’s son, film producer Michael Mailer, wants to shoot the Didion-Dunne screenplay. According to The Daily, Mailer will collaborate with producers Cassian Elwes and Matt Palmieri on this project.

Here’s more from the article: “The Deer Park chronicles two romances during Hollywood’s Red Scare era. It was rejected as obscene by Mailer’s publisher in 1955.” Norman Mailer (pictured, via) adapted The Deer Park into a stage play. It opened off-broadway in 1967 and ran for 128 performances.

Take a trip through literary history today and find the books that topped the New York Times’ bestseller list on your birthday. The BibliOZ tool will help you find new reading material (and remind you how fleeting publishing success can be).

Add your book to our new #birthdaybook hashtag on Twitter.  Follow this link to find out your birthday books. When this GalleyCat editor was born, Oliver’s Story by Erich Segal ruled the bestseller list–the sequel to the bestselling novel, Love Story. On the nonfiction lists, Roots by Alex Haley held the top spot.

How many of your birthday books have you read? Out of all the top 20 books on the bestseller list that week, this GalleyCat editor has only read one book: A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion. NOTE: This post was updated to include a Twitter link. (Via Bethanne Patrick)

According to a Guest of a Guest interview, author and journalist Joan Didion has finished working on a book about aging entitled Blue Nights .

JoanDidion.Info reports that the book will be published by Knopf in 2011. In 2007, Didion published The Year of Magical Thinking, a memoir about the worst year of her life.

During the interview, Didion (pictured, via Colleen Guaitolini) shared her thoughts about blogging. “Well, I don’t really understand blogging … It seems like writing, except quicker. I mean, I’m not actually looking for that instant feedback?”

Ever wanted to own a piece of vampire novelist Anne Rice? Powell’s Books will be selling 7,000 titles from Anne Rice’s private library.

Depending on the success of this venture, Powell’s may expand to in-store offerings as well. Right now, the site has posted more than 1000 titles, including Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, and Homer‘s Odyssey.

Here’s more from the site: “Included in the collection are editions signed or annotated by Ms. Rice, and many have her library markings on the spines. The collection showcases her love of literature and writing and reveals a true intellectual curiosity — classic philosophy, the Brontes, biblical archaeology, and Louisiana history are just a few of the subject areas represented.”

Editor’s Note: This post was changed to correctly state that 1000, not 9 titles are currently available for sale on the site.

Vintage/Anchor Books has announced two promotions and a new hire.

Author and publicist Sloane Crosley has been promoted to deputy director of publicity. She joined the imprint in 2002, previously working at HarperCollins and a literary agency. She has worked with a long list of writers, including Joan Didion, Toni Morrison, and Haruki Murakami.

Kate Runde has been promoted to associate director of publicity at the imprint. She joined in 2004, left for a stint at Picador, and returned to the company in 2007 to serve as senior publicist. She has worked with a number of authors, including Julia Glass, Sue Miller, Richard Russo, and Jeffery Toobin.

Finally, Vintage/Anchor Books hired Dan Ozzi as a senior publicist. Earlier in his career, he had worked at Public Affairs and Oxford University Press.

The National Book Foundation (NBF) announced that Gore Vidal will receive the 2009 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and Dave Eggers will receive the 2009 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.

Both awards will be given out at the 60th National Book Awards Ceremony in New York City on November 18, an evening hosted by writer and actor Andy Borowitz. Vidal will be the twentieth author to receive his prestigious award, which was shared by writers like Joan Didion, Norman Mailer, and Toni Morrison.

National Book Foundation executive director Harold Augenbraum had this statement: ““Vidal and Eggers have made a significant impact on the literary culture of the United States, in two very distinct eras. Although one could call both ‘men of letters,’ their approaches to their craft and to their writing and public lives can be described as very distinctive models of the American artiste engagé.” (Editor’s note: The headline of this post has changed.)

Though it didn’t quite happen at exactly 10 AM EST as the National Book Foundation‘s website promised (10:12 by my clock, admittedly on the fast side) the people who bring you the National Book Awards (the nominees of which will be announced in Philadelphia on October 10 and co-hosted by Camille Paglia) have announced their lifetime achievement winners. Joan Didion will receive the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Cunningham will present. Terry Gross is being honored with the Literarian Award For Outstanding Service to the Literary Community. Ira Glass, host and producer of National Public Radio’s THIS AMERICAN LIFE, will present.

In making the announcements, Harold Augenbraum, executive director of the Foundation, said, “These two women are icons in the literary world and their contributions are now legendary – Joan Didion as one of the keenest observers and finest prose stylists of our time and Terry Gross as one of the most intelligent voices on the airwaves and one of the few who devotes hundreds of hours a year to talking about books and literature. Both women are fearless in their questioning and their insights on the page and on the air have informed our understanding of America and of America’s writers for decades. Our Board of Directors is honored that they will accept these awards and grace our gala with their presence.”