My Real Name Is Hanna, Tara's bestselling debut novel for young readers and adults set in WW II Ukraine, was a finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards and received the Julia Ward Howe Award for Young Readers, a Florida Book Award (YA, Gold), a Skipping Stones Honor Award, a Foreword Book of the Year Award (Historical, Gold), and it appeared on Shelf Unbound's 2019 Notable List, Goodreads' 2018 Ultimate Fall YA Reading List, and their Best of the Month Sept. YA list. Hanna also released in Slovakia and in Poland. She is working on a second WWII novel set in the States. Her latest story collection, How We Disappear, received a 2022 Florida Book Award (Bronze) for General Fiction, was selected for THE MILLIONS "Most Anticipated" Fall List and nominated for a Clara Johnson Award, and is a Readers' Favorite.

AITL Media selected Tara for an Inspirational Woman in Literature Award. She is also editor of the acclaimed Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction and The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays. She founded The Best Small Fictions series.

Tara has been widely anthologized, and her essays have been read on NPR and translated into dance (see under Videos).

Tara was a regular contributor to The Indian-American and Masala magazines and is a member of the Historical Novel Society and St. Augustine's Historical Society. She is on the editorial board of the place-based online journal Terrain.org and lives in the wetlands of St. Augustine, Florida.