The acclaimed American novelist, essayist and journalist Joan Didion has died at the age of 87, the New York Times has confirmed.

The writer – whose works include Play It As It Lays and The Book Of Common Prayer – died from Parkinson’s disease at her home in Manhattan on Thursday (23 December), an executive at her publisher revealed earlier today.

Didion first rose to prominence within the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 70s, thanks to her writing on post-war US society. Her first novel, Run, River was published in 1963, and she published her last work just this year – a collection of 12 essays titled Let Me Tell You What I Mean, which were written between 1968 and 2000.

In 2005, she won the National Book Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for her memoir The Year Of Magical Thinking, an account of the year following the death of her husband.

Since the news of Didion’s death broke earlier today, people have been sharing their tributes to the writer across social media.

In a heartfelt Instagram post, the writer and columnist Terri White paid tribute to Didion’s talent for putting the world into words.

Joan Didion: the acclaimed novelist has died at the age of 87