Patrice Hannon

I was born in Jersey City and grew up listening to my father’s stories about Black Tom. He was also born in Jersey City, and was five years old on the night Black Tom was blown up--old enough to remember the disaster. Those stories inspired me to write my latest book, BLACK TOM, a novel about the sabotage of the munitions depot in New York Harbor one hundred years ago. Not only did I find the history fascinating, but I discovered that few people seemed to know about this cataclysmic event.

I hold a B.A. from Saint Peter’s College and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University, both in English, a subject I taught full-time at Stockton University, Rutgers University, and Vassar College. I'm also the author of DEAR JANE AUSTEN: A HEROINE'S GUIDE TO LIFE AND LOVE and 101 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT JANE AUSTEN, winner of the JANE AUSTEN'S REGENCY WORLD Award, presented by the Jane Austen Centre in Bath. I live in New York City.