Rita Mae Brown

Rita Mae Brown is a highly accomplished American author, known for her mystery novels, romance novels, women's fiction, screenplays, and poetry. She has a degree in classics and English from New York University and is best known for her novel "Rubyfruit Jungle," which dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner. Brown was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, in 1944, to an unmarried, teenage mother and her mother's married boyfriend. She was left at an orphanage and was raised by her mother's cousin Julia Brown and her husband Ralph in York, Pennsylvania, and later in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Brown's early life was marked by hardship and struggle, but she overcame these obstacles to become a successful writer and political activist. She attended the University of Florida at Gainesville on a scholarship, but was expelled for participating in the civil rights movement. She then enrolled at Broward Community College and later at New York University, where she received a degree in Classics and English. Brown also received a degree in cinematography from the New York School of Visual Arts and holds a Ph.D. in literature from Union Institute & University in Washington, D.C.

Brown is a prolific writer, with numerous novels, screenplays, and poems to her name. She is best known for her mysteries and other novels, including "Rubyfruit Jungle," "In Her Day," "Six of One," and "The Sand Castle." She is also an Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet. Brown is a political activist who has been involved in various movements, including civil rights, anti-war, gay liberation, and feminism. She is a former partner of fellow author Fannie Flagg. Brown enjoys American fox hunting and playing polo, and currently resides in Afton, Virginia.