Rita Mae Brown

Brown is a best-selling author, Emmy-nominated screenwriter and poet. Brown has had ties with William Woods for several years. She was the commencement speaker in 2000 and 2010, and she set one of her many mystery novels, "Cat of the Century," on the WWU campus. Author of the groundbreaking best seller, "Rubyfruit Jungle" in 1973, Brown has written more than 40 books since then, including several mysteries "co-authored" with her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown. She has been twice nominated for an Emmy, for her scripts "I Love Liberty" and "The Long Hot Summer." Brown also has served as president of American Artists, Inc., translations from Attic Greek and Latin, as well as assigned novels, for the Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Sun-Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times Book Review. She holds a B.A. in English and classics from New York University and a Ph.D. in English and political science from the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.