- Rita Mae Brown
Infobox Writer
name = Rita Mae Brown
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birthdate = birth date and age|1944|11|28
birthplace = Hanover,Pennsylvania ,United States
deathdate =
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occupation = novelist, poet, screenwriter, activist
nationality = American
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website = http://www.ritamaebrown.com/Rita Mae Brown (born
November 28 1944 ) is a prolific Americanwriter . She is best known for her first novel "Rubyfruit Jungle ". Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the time. Brown is also a successfulmystery writer and anEmmy -nominated screenwriter.Early life
Brown was born in
Hanover, Pennsylvania , and grew up inFlorida , andas of 2004 lives outsideCharlottesville, Virginia .In the 1960s, Brown attended the
University of Florida but transferred. [Related by Brown in "Starting from Scratch", "Rita Will", and her [http://www.ritamaebrown.com/content/about.asp website bio] , retrieved May 24, 2007. She allows that the University administration denies that it had anything to do with integration.] She moved toNew York and attendedNew York University , where she received a degree in classics and English. Later she received another degree incinematography from theNew York School of Visual Arts . She also holds a doctorate in political science from theInstitute for Policy Studies inWashington, D.C. [Related by Brown in her autobiography "Rita Will" and "Starting from Scratch".]In the late 1960s, Brown turned her attention to politics. She became active in the American Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movement, the
Gay Liberation movement and the feminist movement. She cofounded theStudent Homophile League and participated in theStonewall riots (pg 243 of the 1997 edition of "Rita Will": "There stood Martha Shelley and I in a sea of rioting gay men...'Martha, we'd better get the hell out of here.'") inNew York City . She took an administrative position with the fledglingNational Organization for Women , but angrily resigned in February 1970 overBetty Friedan 's anti-gay remarks and NOW's attempts to distance itself from lesbian organizations. She played a leading role in the "Lavender Menace " zap of theSecond Congress to Unite Women onMay 1 ,1970 , which protested Friedan's remarks and the exclusion of lesbians from the women's movement.Related by Brown in her autobiography "Rita Will".]In the early 1970s, she became a founding member of
The Furies Collective , a lesbian feminist newspaper collective which held that heterosexuality was the root of all oppression. Related by Brown in her autobiography "Rita Will".]She has said, "I don't believe in straight or gay. I really don't. I think we're all degrees of bisexual." [ [http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1723482,00.html "Rita Mae Brown: Loves Cats, Hates Marriage", Andrea Sachs, Time Magazine, March 18 2008] ]
Personal life
She is the former girlfriend of tennis player
Martina Navratilova , actress and writerFannie Flagg , socialiteJudy Nelson and politicianElaine Noble . [http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biob5/brow14.html]Brown enjoys American fox hunting and is master of her Fox Hunt Club. She has also played polo and started the woman-only Blue Ridge Polo Club. [http://www.ritamaebrown.com/content/about.asp Rita Mae Brown Website Bio] , retrieved May 24, 2007.]
She is frequently known to co-author with her furry partner, Sneaky Pie Brown.
Writing career
Poetry
Brown began her writing career with
poetry :
*"The Hand That Cradles the Rock" (1971)
*"Songs to a Handsome Woman" (1973)Novels
She is known as the bestselling author of a number of
novel s, including:
*"Rubyfruit Jungle " (1973) ISBN 055327886X
*"In Her Day" ISBN 0553275739
*"Six of One" ISBN 0553380370
*"Southern Discomfort" ISBN 0553274465
*"Sudden Death" ISBN 0553269305
*"High Hearts" ISBN 0553278886
*"Bingo" ISBN 0553380400 (a sequel to "Six of One")
*"Venus Envy" ISBN 0553564978
*"Dolley: A Novel of Dolley Madison in Love and War" ISBN 055356949X
*"Riding Shotgun" ISBN 0553763539
*"Loose Lips" (2000) ISBN 0553380672 (Tells the story between "Six of One" and "Bingo")
*"Alma Mater" (2002) ISBN 0345455320
*"The Sand Castle" (2008) ISBN 0802118704Since 1990 Brown has "
coauthor ed" with her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown, a cozy mystery series featuring the feline character Mrs. Murphy. These include:
*"Wish You Were Here" (1990) ISBN 978-0553287530
*"Rest in Pieces" (1992) ISBN 978-0553562392
*"Murder at Monticello" (1994) ISBN 978-0553572353
*"Pay Dirt" (1995) ISBN 978-0553572360
*"Murder, She Meowed" (1996) ISBN 978-0553572377
*"Murder on the Prowl" (1998) ISBN 978-0553575408
*"Cat on the Scent" (1999) ISBN 978-0553575415
*"Pawing Through the Past" (2000) ISBN 978-0553580259
*"Claws and Effect" (2001) ISBN 978-0553580907
*"Catch as Cat Can" (2002) ISBN 978-0553580280
*"The Tail of the Tip-Off" (2003) ISBN 978-0553582857
*"Whisker of Evil" (2004) ISBN 978-0553582864
*"Cat's Eyewitness" (2005) ISBN 978-0553582871
*"Sour Puss" (2006) ISBN 978-0553586817
*"Puss n' Cahoots" (2007) ISBN 978-0553586824
*"The Purrfect Murder" (2008) ISBN 978-0553586831Rita Mae Brown has written about her passions for
horses ,hounds , and American fox hunting in her fiction and non-fiction for years ("Bingo", "Riding Shotgun", later Mrs. Murphy books). Brown is also active in a local fox hunt club. [http://www.ritamaebrown.com/content/about.asp Rita Mae Brown Website Bio] , retrieved May 24, 2007.] In 2000 she began another mystery series, centered around a fox hunting club in Virginia lead by "Sister" Jane Arnold. Books include:
*"Outfoxed" (2000)
*"Hotspur" (2002)
*"Full Cry" (2003)
*"The Hunt Ball" (2005)
*"The Hounds and the Fury" (2006)
*"The Tell-Tale Horse" (2007)Nonfiction
Brown has published the nonfiction "Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer's Manual" and the autobiography "Rita Will: Memoir of a Literary Rabble-Rouser". She has also published the tie-in "Sneaky Pie's Cookbook" (1999).
creenplays
Her screenplay "
Slumber Party Massacre " (1982) was a parody of the slasher genre, but the producers of the film decided to play it seriously. Other screenplays and teleplays include:
*"Murder She Purred: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery" (1998) (TV)
*"Mary Pickford: A Life on Film" (1997)
*"The Woman Who Loved Elvis" (1993) (TV)
*"Rich Men, Single Women" (1990) (TV)
*"Me and Rubyfruit" (1989)
*"My Two Loves" (1986)
*"The Long Hot Summer" (1985)
*"The Slumber Party Massacre" (1982)
*"I Love Liberty" (1982)In 1982, Brown was nominated for an
Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for "I Love Liberty".Notes
External links
* [http://www.ritamaebrown.com/ Official Website]
* [http://home.houston.rr.com/blase/Root%20Folder/ritamae.html Interview with Rita Mae Brown.]
* [http://wiredforbooks.org/ritamaebrown/ 1988 interview with Rita Mae Brown] byDon Swaim atWired for Books
* [http://www.bluehorizonfarm.com/horse_masters/book_talk Video of Rita Mae Brown talking about her book, The Hounds and the Fury, and other topics. November 2006]
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