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Ms Wurtzel was an influential voice of Generation X
Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of the best-selling 1994 memoir Prozac Nation which detailed her struggles with depression and addiction, has died aged 52.
Her husband, Jim Freed, told US media she died at a New York hospital after a long battle with cancer.
Published when she was in her 20s, Prozac Nation divided critics. Some praised Ms Wurtzel for her candor while others said she was self-absorbed.
She told the BBC in 2012 it was a book about “growing up”.
It included details of her self-harm, drug use and sex life, and made her an influential voice of Generation X.
The memoir has been credited with helping to spark a boom in confessional writing.
Her other books included Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women and More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction, while her essays were featured in publications including The New York Times.
In a 2015 piece for the newspaper, Ms Wurtzel wrote about being diagnosed with breast cancer and having chemotherapy and a double mastectomy.
Following news of her death on Tuesday, tributes were paid on social media.
“It’s impossible to convey the impact Elizabeth Wurtzel had in the ’90s. She was unapologetic, raw, honest. She stood for a very specific form of GenX femininity, confession, rage,” journalist Erin Blakemore wrote.
Actress Mia Farrow described the author as “brilliant, complex, fascinating, fun and kind”.
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