Lilian Jackson Braun (1913–2011) was an American mystery novelist whose best-selling ‘Cat Who’ series featured journalist James Qwilleran solving crimes with his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum.
Born in Willimansett, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, Braun began her writing career as a teenager, contributing sports poetry for the Detroit News. She wrote advertising copy for Detroit department stores. For 30 years, she was a “Good Living” feature author for the Detroit Free Press, retiring in 1978.
After Braun’s first book, The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (1966,) the New York Times named her “the new detective writer of the year.” She issued two more ‘Cat Who’ books but quit after her first publisher demanded that she add sex and violence to her fourth text, The Cat Who Saw Red.
After an 18-year hiatus, Penguin Books imprint Berkley Publishing accepted the book and reprinted her first three mysteries. Braun published 29 ‘Cat Who’ works and two short story collections before retiring after The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers (2007.) Her books were translated into 16 languages.
Braun lost sight during her final years and almost fell three times as a kitten kept getting underfoot. Inspired by this incident and Braun’s literary achievements, American novelist Robert Kaplow wrote the satirical mystery novel The Cat Who Killed Lilian Jackson Braun (2003.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Lilian Jackson Braun
Cats never strike a pose that isn’t photogenic.
—Lilian Jackson Braun
Topics: Cats
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