Dan Brown
Dan Brown, best know for his best-selling novel The DiVinci Code, was born and raised
in Exeter, New Hampshire. Most people don't know this, but Brown was actually a musician before
he began writing. In fact, the idea to write a book hadn't even occurred to him until he was about
30 years old. Apparently in 1994, while he was on vacation in Tahiti, he found and read a copy of
Doomsday Conspiracy and thought "Hey, I could do that."
Dan Brown graduated from Amherst College in 1986 with a degree in English and Spanish. For
some years afterwards, he attempted to make it as a pianist and singer-songwriter with little
success. Four of his CD's were published, but he could never quite make it to the top charts.
While attempting to find success in Los Angeles, he met Blythe Newlon, who attempted to use her
connections to further his musical career.
In 1993, Brown, accompanied by Newlon, decided to move back to New Hampshire, taking a teaching
job in English at Phillips Exeter Academy. Shortly after this time is when he first read Doomsday
Conspiracy. This lead to him and Newlon writing "187 Men to Avoid: A Guide for the Romantically
Frustrated Woman" and inspired him to become a full-time writer. In 1997, Brown and Newlon were
married. Brown went on to write best-selling books such as Digital Fortress and Angels and
Demons. In 2003, Brown published The DaVinci Code, one of the most-read novels of all-
time.
The DiVinci Code and Angels And Demons went on to become best-selling movie adaptions
as well. "The DiVinci Code" (film) went on to gross over $750 million. "Angels and Demons" (film) was
only recently released, but it has already grossed over $190 million.