Donna Tartt
Donna Tartt
was born in Greenwood, Mississippi on December 23, 1963. She lived in
nearby Grenada, Mississippi with her father, a local politician, her
mother, and her younger sister. She didn’t have very many friends her
age and was often fond of playing with her cousin’s and aunt’s that were
in the area. When she was with her relatives, she would often retire to
her bedroom to read books and even to write in a notebook starting at
age 4. Writing came easy to her and soon developed into a passion. By
five she was keeping a daily journal. Soon after her journaling came
writing poetry, which led to publishing a poem in the state literary
review at the age of 13.
In 1981 she enrolled at the University of Mississippi and this is where
things really started to happen for Tarrt. In her first year at college
her writing was noticed by professors there. After looking at her
writing, the writer-in-residence, Barry Hannah, allowed her to attend
the graduate level short story course. This was a very rare occurrence
and foreshadowed the award winning writing to come.
After being noticed, her freshman year, as being a talented writer, she
was advised to attend Bennington college in 1982. It was here that she
started to write her first novel, The Secret History. This book would
later be published in 1992, becoming a bestseller, and has been
translated into 24 different languages. Her second book, The Little
Friend, published in 2002, went on to win the WH Smith Literary Award in
2003. |
