Sandra Brown Excellence in Literary Fiction Scholarship
About Sandra Brown
Sandra Brown is the author of more than 70 New York Times best-sellers, including Low Pressure; Lethal; Rainwater; Tough Customer; Smash Cut; Smoke Screen; Play Dirty; Ricochet; Chill Factor; White Hot; Hello, Darkness; The Crush; Envy; The Switch; The Alibi; Unspeakable; and Fat Tuesday.
Writing professionally since 1981, Brown has published more than 80 novels and has upwards of 80 million copies of her books in print worldwide. Her work has been translated into 35 languages. In 2009 Brown detoured from her thrillers to write, Rainwater, a much acclaimed, powerfully moving story about honor and sacrifice during the Great Depression.
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.”
Her episode on truTV’s “Murder by the Book” premiered the series in 2008. She appeared in 2010 on Investigation Discovery’s new series, “Hardcover Mysteries.” Television movies have been made of her novels French Silk, Smoke Screen and Ricochet.
Brown holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from TCU. In 2012, she served as president of Mystery Writers of America. In 2008, she was named Thriller Master, the top award given by the International Thriller Writers Association. Other honors include the 2007 Texas Medal of Arts Award for Literature and the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2011, she and four colleagues went on a weeklong USO tour to Afghanistan, meeting with service members on numerous bases.
How to Apply
Interested students must:
- Be an English, Writing & Rhetoric, or Creative Writing major.
- Submit a writing portfolio of 50 to 75 pages, and include an example(s), of the student’s original fiction—either short stories or part of a longer work—and a reflective introduction that discusses the student’s writing, goals, and interests.
- Provide two letters of recommendation. Recipients must maintain a 3.0 GPA or better and remain active in TCU’s literary culture.
Deadline for the 2024 Scholarship
Portfolios must be submitted through the online form by Dec. 6, 2024. Please fill out the form by the deadline.
For Further Information
Contact elf@tcu.edu.