Look and Listen

Biography

BETH DOTSON BROWN is a freelance writer and editor. She contributes regularly to a number of magazines and newspapers and has written for Catholic publications, including Catholic Digest, Our Sunday Visitor, and St. Anthony Messenger. Her work has also been published in Junior Scholastic, LexArts, the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper as well as other publications. She has won awards from the International Network of Young Journalists and the Catholic Press Association. Beth also puts her skills to use to help nonprofit organizations with their communications endeavors, to teach writing, and to lead writing retreats. She was awarded a fellowship by the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, an artist’s residency by the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and grants by the Kentucky Arts Council. She also writes fiction. She lives in Kentucky.

Inspiration

As a seven-year-old growing up in southern Indiana, I read a biography about Louisa May Alcott and knew what I wanted to do with my life. Sitting in a tree and writing stories, creating plays in the attic and barn then moving to New York City to be a writer all sounded like wonderful adventures. So I sunk into my bean bag chair and concocted tales. I gathered neighborhood friends and we put together performances on the carport. And when I was 21-years-old, after graduating college with a degree in journalism, I moved to New York City to be a writer. I still visit New York and I’ve written and directed plays with the youth at church, but I now write at a desk overlooking the trees, garden and critters that play all day in the back yard. Sometimes when the sunshine and warmth beckon me, I go to the back yard or front porch to write. After my initial fascination with writing I also discovered I wanted to write pieces, fiction and nonfiction, that would help people understand one another better and find more peace within themselves and the world. This was greatly inspired by my work with nonprofit organizations and travels to countries in the developing world, such as Togo, India, Bolivia and Guatemala. So I began a quest for stories about truth, justice and interpersonal relationships.