Novelist, born in Exeter, New Hampshire, USA. He studied at Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy (1982), later moving to Los Angeles where he pursued a career as a composer and musician. He then studied art history in Seville for a time. In 1993 he returned to New Hampshire to teach English at his former Academy before turning to writing full-time. He gained success with his first novel, Digital Fortress (1998), a political thriller. Later novels include Angels and Demons (2000), Deception Point (2001), and the controversial best-seller The Da Vinci Code (2003). In March 2006, a copyright action was begun in London against publisher Random House by two authors, Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent, who claim that Brown plagiarized their book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982) for The Da Vinci Code. The claim was rejected by the High Court.
Dan Brown|
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| Born: |
June 22, 1964 Exeter, New Hampshire |
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| Occupation(s): | Novelist |
| Genre(s): | Conspiracy/Drama/Fiction |
| Website: | danbrown.com |
Dan Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for writing the controversial 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code.
Early life
Dan Brown was born and raised in Exeter, New Hampshire, USA, the oldest of three children. Brown was a prominent mathematics teacher, writing textbooks and teaching high school mathematics at Phillips Exeter Academy from 1968 until his retirement in 1997.
Phillips Exeter Academy is an exclusive boarding school, which required new teachers to live on campus for several years, so Brown and his siblings were raised at the school. Brown sang in the church choir, attended Sunday school, and spent summers at church camp.
Songwriter and pop singer
After graduating from Phillips Exeter in 1982, Brown attended Amherst College, where he was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity.
Brown graduated from Amherst with a double major in Spanish and English in 1986, and then dabbled with a musical career, creating effects with a synthesizer, and self-producing a children's cassette entitled SynthAnimals which included a collection of tracks such as "Happy Frogs" and "Suzuki Elephants"; Though not officially part of her job, she took on the seemingly unusual task of helping to promote Brown's projects; She and Brown also developed a personal relationship, though this was not known to all of their associates until 1993, when Brown moved back to New Hampshire, and it was learned that Blythe would accompany him.
Along with helping his singing career, Blythe has also been a major influence on Brown's career as an author, as she assists with much of the promotion involved with his books. In the Acknowledgement for Deception Point, Brown thanked "Blythe Brown for her tireless research and creative input."
In 1993, Brown released the self-titled CD Dan Brown, which included songs such as "976-Love" and "If You Believe in Love".
New England teacher
Brown and Blythe moved to his home town in New Hampshire in 1993. Brown became an English teacher at his alma mater Phillips Exeter, and gave Spanish classes to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at Lincoln Akerman School, a small school for K–8th grade with about 250 students, in Hampton Falls.
In 1994, Brown released a CD entitled Angels & He started work on Digital Fortress, and also co-wrote a humor book with his wife, 187 Men to Avoid: A Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman, under the pseudonym "Danielle Brown" (one of the 187 items in the book was "Men who write self-help books for women"). The book's author profile reads, "Danielle Brown currently lives in New England: teaching school, writing books, and avoiding men." The copyright, however, is listed as "Dan Brown".
Author
In 1996, Brown quit teaching to become a full-time writer. Blythe did much of the book's promotion, writing press releases, booking Brown on talk shows, and setting up press interviews. A few months later, Brown and his wife released The Bald Book, another humor book. It was officially credited to his wife, though a representative of the publisher said that it was primarily written by Brown. Brown's fourth book is Deception Point which was published in 2000 right before Angels & Demons.
Brown's first four novels had mediocre success, with fewer than 10,000 copies in each of their first printings; Its success has helped push sales of Brown's earlier books. Forbes magazine placed Brown at #12 on their 2005 "Celebrity 100" list, and estimated his annual income at US$76.5 million.
In October 2004, Brown and his siblings donated US$2.2 million to Phillips Exeter Academy in honor of their father, to set up the "Richard G. Brown Technology Endowment", to help "provide computers and high-tech equipment for students in need."
Brown is interested in cryptography, keys, and codes, which are a recurring theme in his stories.
In 2006, Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code was released as a film by Columbia Pictures, with director Ron Howard;
Brown was listed as one of the executive producers of the film The Da Vinci Code, and also created additional codes for the film. One of his songs, "Phiano", which Brown wrote and performed, was listed as part of the film's soundtrack. Demons, 1995, DBG Records (included songs "Here in these Fields" and "All I Believe") Musica Animalia 2003, a charity CD for the organization Families First
Humor writing
187 Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman, 1995, Berkley Publishing Group (co-written with his wife under the pseudonym Danielle Brown). ISBN 0-425-14783-5, Scheduled for re-release in August 2006 The Bald Book, 1998, co-written with his wife Blythe Brown. ISBN 0-385-51375-5 The Solomon Key, in development, will possibly launch in early 2007Movie
The Da Vinci Code (film), 2006 (Brown is listed as executive producer)Future projects
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. Brown is working on a new novel, called The Solomon Key, which will reportedly take place in Washington D.C., and feature the "secret" society of the Freemasons. Brown's promotional website states that puzzles hidden in the bookjacket of The Da Vinci Code (including two referring to the Kryptos sculpture at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia) give hints about the subject of this novel. The fictional Langdon's alma mater is Phillips Exeter Academy, the same school that Brown attended. Characters in Brown's books are often named after real people in his life. Robert Langdon's editor Jonas Faukman, is named after Brown's real life editor Jason Kaufman. Brown also said that characters were based on a New Hampshire librarian, and a French teacher at Exeter, Andre Vernet. In a statement at trial in March 2006, Brown wrote that while he was growing up, on birthdays and Christmas, he and his siblings were led on elaborate treasure hunts to find their gifts, following cryptic clues and codes left by their father. Brown plays tennis, and does his writing in his loft, often getting up at 4 a.m. to work. Brown has told fans that he uses inversion therapy to help with writer's block. He uses gravity boots and says, “hanging upside down seems to help me solve plot challenges by shifting my entire perspective.” There is a brief appearance of Brown and his wife in the 2005 film Be Cool, in the front row of the audience at the Aerosmith concert. Although many claim Brown's books such as The Da Vinci Code are perceived as anti-Christian, Brown calls himself a Christian who says the controversy is good to inspire "discussion and debate" that will ultimately lead to a more solidly defended faith. In the film version of The Da Vinci Code, Brown and his wife can be seen in the background of one of the early booksigning scenes.Disputed claims
Some interview statements by Brown have been brought into question:
In interviews, Brown has said that his wife is an "art historian" and "painter", though there was no record of her having worked professionally in this capacity. Brown states that during his junior year at Amherst College, he went to Europe to study art history at the University of Seville in Spain, which is where he first began seriously studying the works of Leonardo da Vinci.
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