Donna Tartt is an acclaimed American author and novelist known for her intricate plot settings and character development. Born on December 23, 1963, in Greenwood, Mississippi, Tartt began writing early and published her first poem at the age of 13. She attended the University of Mississippi and Bennington College in Vermont, where she began drafting her first novel, "The Secret History," which was published in 1992 to wide critical acclaim. Her two subsequent novels, "The Little Friend" (2002) and "The Goldfinch" (2013), have further honed her reputation for mystique, detail, and suspense. "The Goldfinch" won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2014. Tartt's writing is characterized by her use of rich language and her explorations of themes such as guilt, redemption, and loss.