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Marilyn Brown

Image of Marilyn Brown
Marilyn McMeen Brown was no different from most ten year olds suddenly discovering the power of the written word. But as a child she wasn’t reading Harry Potter, but George Eliot’s Adam Bede, about a principled preacher with a heart of gold. Keeping her eyes on the printed page and chewing on a pencil, Marilyn made a decision to write about her unsung regional culture with Eliot’s power—if she could. She wrote all through her BA and MA from BYU, her creative writing MFA from the University of Utah, through her two-year marriage to a musician and the birth of her only child, and finally through the thirty-six years of her marriage to realtor/actor husband Bill Brown, raising his big motherless family. She wrote musicals during the nine years of the Browns’ Springville, Utah, Villa Playhouse; she wrote at the city pool while the six children went swimming, while she was driving them to music lessons, and in the middle of the night. Receiving awards, she kept going. She won the first Mayhew prize ever given at BYU, an honorable mention from the Utah State Fine Arts competition for House on the Sound, and two years later the state’s first prize of a thousand dollars for Road to Covered Bridge. She won first prizes for both poetry and short story in the only Utah Writer’s League contest she ever entered, a Randall Book award, the first Association for Mormon Letters award ever given for a novel—her Earthkeepers—and several Publisher’s House Awards for the half dozen novels she published at CFI. Because the awards inspired her, she established the Marilyn Brown Novel Award of a thousand dollars each year given by UVU to encourage other struggling serious literary writers. In 1996 Marilyn and her husband Bill established the Villa Playhouse Theatre in Springville, which ran for almost nine years until Bill's heart attack in 2004. This is when Marilyn wrote the two musicals. Because of Bill's health problems, they began living in St. George in the winters.
Marilyn McMeen Miller Brown, Marilyn McMeen Miller
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LDS
LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
1938
Denver, Colorado
Brigham Young University, University of Utah
Professional writer, an editor for Brigham Young University Press, manager of her own publishing company, English teacher
Female
Author
English

60 Works by Marilyn Brown

Title Role Year Genre
Goodbye, Hello Author 1984 Novel
Road to Covered Bridge Author 1992 Novel
Royal House Author 1994 Novel
Shadows of Angels Author 1993 Novel
Statehood Author 1995 Novel
Thorns of the Sun Author 1992 Fiction
The Grandmother Tree Author 1978 Poetry
I Have Lost My Heart Again. I Pray I Will Not Lose My Head. Amen. Author 1974 Poetry
Rainflowers Author 1969 Poetry
The Wine-Dark Sea of Grass Author 2000 Novel
The Happiness Bird Author 1967 Fiction
The Earthkeepers Author 1979 Fiction
Grandmother Author Poetry
Pig Trip Author Poetry
Don't Tell Mama Author Poetry
Lesson Author Poetry
Indian Playmate Author Poetry
The Christmas Bear Author Short Story
Aftermath Author Short Story
The Black Canary Author Short Story
Heat Author Poetry
Fire Author Poetry
House on the Sound Author 2001 Novel
The Nutcracker, The Musical Author Drama
Christmas at the M&M Author 2000 Fiction
The Holly Christmas Author 2000 Fiction
The Light in the Room Author 2003 Novel
[Review of] One in a Billion by Sharlee Mullins Glenn Author Review
Will You Remember? Author Poetry
Thy Servants Are Prepared Author Poetry
News Express Author Poetry
Pioneer Saga Author
The House Away from Home Author Novel Excerpt
Thy Servants Are Prepared Author Music Lyrics
Christmas Begins with a Tree Author 1967 Fiction
At the End of a Pilgrimage Author 1967 Fiction
In the Way They Should Go Author 1969 Fiction
Dear Loved One Author 1965 Poetry
Cumorah Author 1968 Poetry
Hold Autumn Author 1968 Poetry
Oakland Author 1966 Poetry
Place of Prayer Author 1966 Poetry
To A New Child Author 1968 Poetry
Star Bright Author Poetry
Unto the Least of These Author Poetry
On Peaches Days Author Poetry
Journey of a Blind Grandmother, Ending Author Poetry
The Novelization of Brigham City Author Personal Essay
Vontella Kimball Author Tribute
Haute Cuisine Made Simple Author Review
From Clay Author Poetry
The Macaroni Christmas Tree Author 2001 Fiction
Serpent in Paradise Author 2006 Fiction
Ghosts of the Oquirrhs Author 2002 Fiction
The Merry Nutcracker Author 2004 Fiction
Fires of Jerusalem Author 2011 Fiction
The Rosefields of Zion Author 2014 Novel
The Rosefields of Zion Author 2014 Fiction
The Accidental Goodbye Author 2016 Fiction
Watercress Spring Author 1970 Poetry
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