Proud Products of Texas Public Schools

Sandra Brown

Richland High School
Birdville ISD

Sandra Brown is the author of 56 The New York Times bestsellers, including Play Dirty, released in August 2007 by Simon & Schuster. Her other recent bestsellers include Ricochet (2006), Chill Factor (2005), White Hot (2004), Hello, Darkness (2003), The Crush (2002), Envy (2001), The Switch (2000), The Alibi (1999), Unspeakable (1998) and Fat Tuesday (1997), all of which 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 70 novels, most of which remain in print. As of 1990, when Mirror Image made The New York Times bestseller list, each subsequent novel, including reprints of earlier books, have become Times bestsellers. In 1992, her novel French Silk was made into an ABC-TV movie. Brown now has 70 million copies of her books in print worldwide, and her work has been translated into 33 languages.

A lifelong Texan, 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 has appeared at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., and the Texas Book Festival in Austin, as well as charity functions throughout the year. Court TV also sought Brown to host the 2007 premier of its popular series “Murder by the Book.”

“In 10th grade I had an English teacher, Miss Moore. I don’t recall her first name—maybe I never knew it. But I remember well her grammar lessons, particularly on the parts of speech. Every day I use what I learned from her. I can spot a split infinitive a mile away!”

—Sandra Brown