25 to watch in 2025: Author, UK professor Hannah Pittard to release new book in July
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25 to watch in 2025
The Lexington Herald-Leader is tracking 25 individuals we expect will be making news in 2025.
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Editor’s note: The Herald-Leader is profiling 25 individuals we predict will be making news in 2025.
Name: Hannah Pittard
Background: Pittard is an author and has been teaching since 2005. She has been an English professor at the University of Kentucky since 2014. She’s written six books, four while living in Lexington. Her 2023 “sort of” memoir, “We Are Too Many,” received critical praise for its examination of the end of Pittard’s marriage.
Why they’re someone to watch in 2025: Her sixth book, a dark comedy called “If You Love It, Let It Kill You,” comes out July 15. It tells the story of an author (Hana P.) who has built a life in Lexington, when she learns her ex-husband’s debut novel will star an unflattering version of herself, and a midlife crisis occurs. It’s received early praise from such writers as Ann Beattie, Maggie Smith, Kevin Wilson and Ann Napolitano.
What she expects from 2025: Pittard is looking forward to the release of her next novel and continuing to teach at UK, but said she’s begun another writing project as well.
“I’ve already got a new project in the works — a meta-thriller with a hint of social commentary — and this is where I’ll be putting most of my creative energy in 2025. I’ll obviously also be putting a ton of energy into teaching,” Pittard said.
What others say about Pittard: “The most important reason to pay attention to Hannah Pittard in 2025 is that she’s a remarkably talented storyteller with an uncanny eye and ear for the tragicomedies of daily life,” said Emily Shortslef, an associate professor at UK. “I admire her novels for their vividly drawn characters, lifelike dialogue and devastatingly funny one-liners, but especially for their exploration of the bittersweet and complicated relationships between parents and children, siblings, current and former partners, friends, and (above all) various versions — past, present, and future — of the self.”
