Though known to be an intensely private person, much of Donna Tartt’s life has been in the spotlight. Born in Greenwood, Mississippi on December 23, 1963 and raised in Grenada, Mississippi, Tartt was an especially precocious child. Tartt began writing poetry at 5; her work was first published in a Mississippi literary review when she was thirteen.
Her work extended to short stories and essays, and in her second year at college she began work on what would become her first novel, The Secret History. Deeply influenced by the author's time at Bennington College, the novel was published in 1992 and cemented Tartt as part of the “Literary Brat Pack” with fellow members Bret Easton Ellis, Jill...
