Didion book to be a solo play

Writer Joan Didion is adapting her recent bestselling memoir, “The Year of Magical Thinking,” into a play.

The memoir dealt with the death of her writer husband and the ultimately fatal illness of her daughter. The one-woman play will be produced by Scott Rudin, who approached her with the idea, and directed by British playwright David Hare.

“Magical Thinking,” which has sold more than 200,000 copies and won a National Book Award, chronicles the painful period of Didion’s life after the fatal heart attack of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, in 2003. Their daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne Michael, was hospitalized at the time with pneumonia and septic shock.