Larry Brown was born on 9 July 1951 in Oxford, Miss. He briefly attended the University of Mississippi, but did not graduate. Brown served in the United States Marine Corps, 1970-1972, then worked as a firefighter for the Oxford Fire Department, 1973-1990. While a firefighter, Brown began to write fiction. His first book was Facing the Music (1988), a collection of short stories, and his first novel was Dirty Work (1989). Other novels include Big Bad Love (1990), Joe: A Novel (1991), Father and Son (1996), and Fay (2000). He twice won the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. Brown died in Oxford on 24 November 2004.
From the guide to the Larry Brown Drafts of Joe: A Novel, 1991, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)
