Donna Louise Tartt (b.1963) is an American novelist and author of three acclaimed novels, including her celebrated début, The Secret History. She is a highly elusive artist, and not much is known about her private life.
Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, Tartt began work on her first novel while studying creative writing at Bennington College, Vermont. In the mid-1980s, she began working on her first novel about a group of intellectual college students who form a secret murderous cult. She took eight years to complete that story. The Secret History (1992) was published when she was 28 years old. It received rave reviews from critics, and it spent 13 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, sold millions of copies, and was translated into two dozen languages.
Tartt’s subsequent works are The Little Friend (2002; WH Smith Literary Award, 2003,) and The Goldfinch (2013; Pulitzer, 2014; Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, 2014; film adaptation, 2019.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Donna Tartt
Hard to put things right. You don’t often get that chance. Sometimes all you can do is not get caught.
—Donna Tartt
Topics: Character, Envy, Jealousy
I think innocence is something that adults project upon children that’s not really there.
—Donna Tartt
Topics: Innocence
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Cynthia Ozick American Novelist, Essayist
Andre Norton American Science Fiction Writer
Norman Mailer American Novelist, Journalist
Isabel Allende Chilean Novelist
Marilynne Robinson Novelist, Essayist
Alice Walker American Novelist, Activist
Anne Tyler American Novelist
Lloyd Alexander American Writer
Carol Shields Canadian Author, Academic
Katherine Anne Porter American Writer