Donna Tartt

Donna Tartt is American novelist and essayist. Born on December 23, 1963, in Greenwood, Mississippi, Donna Tartt grew up in the small town of Grenada. Her father was a rockabilly musician turned service station owner and local politician, while her mother worked as a secretary. Both parents were avid readers.

Donna’s writing talent emerged early. She penned her first poem at just five years old and had a sonnet published in the Mississippi Review by age 13. In high school, she was a cheerleader and worked at the public library, where she wrote prize-winning essays and short stories about death.

In 1981, Donna enrolled at the University of Mississippi, where her talent caught the eye of writer Willie Morris, who famously declared her a “genius.” She transferred to Bennington College in 1982, where she studied classics and mingled with future literary stars like Bret Easton Ellis and Jonathan Lethem. She graduated in 1986 with a degree in philosophy.

Donna’s debut novel, “The Secret History” (1992), was inspired by her time at Bennington and became an instant success, earning her the label of a “precocious literary genius” at just 29. Her second novel, “The Little Friend” (2002), was first published in Dutch due to her popularity in the Netherlands.

In 2011, Donna released “The Goldfinch,” which sparked debates about its literary merit but nonetheless won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The novel was adapted into a film in 2019, although it didn’t fare well critically or commercially.

Works Authored by Donna Tartt

Novels

The Secret History (1992, Alfred A. Knopf)

The Little Friend (2002, Alfred A. Knopf)

The Goldfinch (2013, Little, Brown)

Short Stories

“Tam-O’-Shanter”, The New Yorker, April 19, 1993

“A Christmas Pageant”, Harper’s Magazine, December 1993

“A Garter Snake”, GQ, May 1995

“The Ambush”, The Guardian, June 25, 2005

Nonfiction

“Sleepytown: A Southern Gothic Childhood, with Codeine”, Harper’s Magazine, July 1992

“Basketball Season” in The Best American Sports Writing, 1993

“Team Spirit: Memories of Being a Freshman Cheerleader for the Basketball Team”, Harper’s Magazine, April 1994

“My friend, my mentor, my inspiration” in Remembering Willie, 2000

“Afterword” in True Grit, 2010