Good Griefs: The Life of a Novelist

Sandra Brown is the author of fifty-eight New York Times bestsellers, including Smash Cut; Smoke Screen; Play Dirty; Ricochet; Chill Factor;White Hot; Hello, Darkness; The Crush; Envy; The Switch; The Alibi; Unspeakable and Fat Tuesday, all of which have jumped onto the Times bestseller list in the number one to five spot. Brown began her writing career in 1981 and since then has published seventy-four novels, bringing the number of copies of her books in print worldwide to upwards of eighty million. Her work has been translated into thirty-three languages.

A lifelong Texan, Sandra Brown was born in Waco, grew up in Fort Worth and attended Texas Christian University, majoring in English. Before embarking on her writing career, she worked as a model at the Dallas Apparel Mart, and in television, including weathercasting for WFAA-TV in Dallas, and feature reporting on the nationally syndicated program "PM Magazine."

She is much in demand as a speaker and guest television hostess. Her episode on truTV’s "Murder by the Book" premiered the series in 2008. She will soon appear on Investigation Discovery’s new series, "Hardcover Mysteries."

In 2009 Brown detoured from her thrillers to write, Rainwater, a much acclaimed, powerfully moving story about honor and sacrifice during the Great Depression.

Brown recently was given an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Texas Christian University. She was named Thriller Master for 2008, the top award given by the International Thriller Writer’s Association. Other awards and commendations include the 2007 Texas Medal of Arts Award for Literature, the American Business Women’s Association’s Distinguished Circle of Success, B’nai B’rith’s Distinguished Literary Achievement Award, the A.C. Greene Award and the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, Brown is a member of Author’s Guild, Mystery Writers of America, Novelists, Inc., Literacy Partners, and a founding member of International Thriller Writers.

Sandra and her husband Michael Brown live in Arlington, Texas.

Coming in October
Bob Ray Sanders

October 19, 2010 • 5:30 - 7:30 pm • David L. Tandy Lecture Hall
Calvin Littlejohn's Portrait of the African-American Community
Bob Ray Sanders is a thirty-year veteran of the journalism world. He has worked in television, radio and newspapers. He is currently vice president and associate editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He also worked for many years at KERA, the PBS affiliate, where he served as reporter, producer, station manager and vice president. Sanders has received some of journalism's most prestigious awards. His most recent work chronicles the photography of Calvin Littlejohn in both segregated and post-civil rights movement Fort Worth, captured over a period of six decades.