Shane Brown, an Oxford dairy farmer, published his first book, “A Place Called Tula,” in July 2026. The book is a collection of short stories and personal essays exploring rural Mississippi life, work, community, grief, addiction and family.
An Oxford native, Shane Brown grew up with deep connections to the surrounding area, including Yocona, Miss., and Tula, Miss., connections that are prominent in his debut. Shane Brown works as a dairyman, helping his brother Billy Ray Brown at the well-loved Brown’s Family Dairy farm.
Shane Brown is the son of Larry Brown, the Oxford fiction writer who was the first two-time winner of the Southern Book Award for Fiction. Larry Brown’s well-known works include “Dirty Work,” “Joe,” “Father and Son” and “Big Bad Love.” Both “Joe” and “Big Bad Love” were adapted into films.
Shane Brown began writing the novel 12 years ago. The first story, “November 24th,” is the introductory story to the book. Until that moment 12 years ago, he had never considered himself a writer. Shane Brown preferred to leave the writing up to his father, who was a published author.
“My dad was the writer — I left that up to him,” Shane Brown said. “On the 10th anniversary (of his death), I just started writing about the day he died.”
Larry Brown was an American nonfiction writer and Oxford native who took a creative writing course at the University of Mississippi after graduating. Larry Brown’s passing led Shane Brown to discover his father’s shared passion for writing.
“I started at 9 o’clock that night, finished around 2 (a.m.),” Shane Brown said. “The next morning, I got up and read it, and I realized I liked writing.”
He had never considered publishing a book but wrote for the joy of it, posting some of his work on social media. He then began writing stories for hottytoddy.com.
“I became friends with John Cofield,” Shane Brown said. “He showed Dr. Ed Meek, who runs hottytoddy.com, some of my work, and within that day, Ed Meek called me up and signed me up to write for them. I probably wrote 50 to 60 stories for them.”
The fiction stories in Shane Brown’s book touch on characters who struggle with relationships, addiction and alcoholism.
“There are some broken relationships throughout the book,” Shane Brown said. “There’s alcoholism in several characters. So I guess I can’t hide from saying that, but lots of brokenness.”
However, the nonfiction sections of his book focus on his family life and contain themes of diligence and happiness.
“The nonfiction side’s (about the) more happy, hardworking family life and lifestyle that we live,” Shane Brown said. “I believe in working hard and doing it right and doing it every day.”
Shane Brown said growing up seeing his father’s work greatly influenced his writing.
“Growing up, I read a lot of Dad’s stuff and saw how he made it, (how he) decided what characters were going to do or who they’d be, and he simply said, ‘Write what you know,’” Shane Brown said.
Shane Brown was simultaneously inspired and intimidated by his father’s legacy as an author when he decided to publish his own work.
“If anything, it was intimidation of who he is,” Shane Brown said. “The awards he’s received, the books that he’s written — they’re wonderful. So it was kind of intimidating for me to be like, ‘Hey, I want to put a book out, too.’”
Shane Brown said that his father’s advice on writing made a difference in his own process. Shane Brown passed that advice down to his own son.
“Write what you know — that’s huge,” Shane Brown said. “When I did, I told Maddux, my oldest son, ‘Just write what you know.’”
