Hannah Pittard
American novelist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hannah Pittard is an American novelist and author of short stories.
Hannah Pittard | |
|---|---|
Pittard in 2025 (photo by Ayna Lorenzo) | |
| Born | Georgia, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist, professor |
| Nationality | American |
| Notable works | The Fates Will Find Their Way, Visible Empire, We Are Too Many, If You Love It, Let It Kill You |
Early life and education
Pittard was raised in Georgia.[1][2] She attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where she received praise for her creative writing.[1] She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 2001[1] and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Virginia in 2007.[2] She currently works at the University of Kentucky in Lexington KY. Her literary influences include Southern authors Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner, and Harry Crews.[3]
Career
Pittard's first novel, The Fates Will Find Their Way, follows a group of boys from adolescence through middle age as they react to and speculate about a peer's mysterious disappearance.[4] It was favorably reviewed by The New York Times Book Review[5] and The Guardian.[4] Pittard said that she had aimed to capture a "universal ... feeling and experience" of nostalgia.[2]
Her second novel, Reunion, an editor's choice by the Chicago Tribune,[6] examines the lives and relationships of adult siblings in the immediate aftermath of their father's unexpected suicide.[3]
Listen to Me looks at personal and marital struggles of a wife and husband as they make a cross-country road trip.[7][8]
Pittard's short stories have appeared in McSweeney's[9] and Narrative Magazine.[10][11]
Pittard's 2018 novel, Visible Empire, is loosely based on true events. It is the fictionalized aftermath of the 1962 Air France Flight 007 accident, which exploded on the runway, killing 130 of the 132 people on board. More than one hundred members of the Atlanta Art Association died.[12]
In 2023, Pittard published the memoir We Are Too Many: A Memoir [Kind of], which chronicles the unraveling of her marriage after discovering her husband's affair with her best friend. The book was noted for its formal experimentation and emotional candor, and received critical attention from major outlets.[13]
In 2025, Pittard published the novel If You Love It, Let It Kill You, which explores themes of authorship, identity, and estrangement through a metafictional narrative. The book was reviewed in The New York Times Book Review, which praised its introspective voice and narrative ambition.[14][15]