Major Works
Jill Conner Browne, Photo by David Rae Morris, courtesy of Three Rivers Press
- Fat is the New 30: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Coping with (the crappy parts of) Life (2012)
- American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Preserving Your Assets (2009)
- The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit (2008)
- The Sweet Potato Queens’ First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn’t Actually Do, But Could Have, and May Yet, (2007)
- The Sweet Potato Queens’ Wedding Planner/Divorce Guide (December 27, 2005)
- The Sweet Potato Queens’ Field Guide to Men: Every Man I Love is Either Married, Gay, or Dead (2004)
- The Sweet Potato Queen’s Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner) (2003)
- The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love (1999)
- God Save the Sweet Potato Queens (2001)
- The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Life (2001)
Biography of Jill Conner Browne
by Danielle Hicks (SHS) 2001
Danielle Hicks (SHS)
Jill Conner Browne exercises and runs constantly and is a weightlifting instructor at the YMCA in Jackson, Mississippi. In addition, she writes for the Mississippi Business Journal using the pen name, Betty Fulton. In 1999, Jill Conner Browne, royal boss queen of Jackson, Mississippi’s Sweet Potato Queens, introduced the queens to the world in the hilarious bestseller The Sweet Potato Queen’s Book of Love. Her first book sold over 250,000 copies and had to go to press fourteen times. The rage over the Queens started in the early 1980’s–at least for Browne it did (Three Rivers Press). Her followers didn’t hop on the royal bandwagon until a decade later. In 1982, she entered herself, along with four of her friends, in the Jackson, Mississippi St. Paddy’s Day Parade as THE Sweet Potato Queen. They threw, yes, you guessed it, sweet potatoes to their not-so-adoring fans (Browne). Later, fans came from across the country to grovel at the Queens’ feet. And so the phenomenon came to be what it is today; what started from a little fun back in the 80’s blossomed into a full-blown frenzy. Browne keeps herself grounded by continuing to write her weekly humorous fitness column for the Clarion-Ledger, the newspaper of Jackson, Mississippi. She also stays content with her family in Jackson, Mississippi, which includes her daughter Bailey, her mother, three cats, and her dog (Three Rivers Press).
It is rumored that Browne is working on a third Sweet Potato Queen Book (See update below). The contents of this one are highly confidential, but information has been released about the concept for the cover. Expect to see more of the Queens than you ever have before when their butts are given the spotlight on the cover of her not yet titled new book (Dickerson). Her books include The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love (Three Rivers Press, February, 1999) and God Save the Sweet Potato Queens (Three Rivers Press, January 2001).
UPDATE 2014 Since 2001, Jill Connor Browne has published seven more books including Fat is the New 30: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Coping with (the crappy parts of) Life in 2012, American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Preserving Your Assets in 2009, The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit (2008), The Sweet Potato Queens’ First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn’t Actually Do, But Could Have, and May Yet, (2007), The Sweet Potato Queens’ Wedding Planner/Divorce Guide (December 27, 2005) and The Sweet Potato Queens’ Field Guide to Men: Every Man I Love is Either Married, Gay, or Dead (2004), and The Sweet Potato Queen’s Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner in 2003. Her Sweet Potato Queens now have their own parade in Jackson, Mississippi, every year on St. Patrick’s Day.
Jill Conner Browne – Sweet Potato Queen
Reviews
A Review of The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love
by Danielle Hicks (SHS)
The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love is a shocking portrayal of a “fallen Southern belle’s” outlook on love. Her provocative stories depict her and her fellow Queens’ trials and tribulations through life, love, and various men. This book will have you rolling on the floor laughing and begging for more.
These extraordinary women, although they seem contrived, are actual residents of Jackson, Mississippi. Each year they are featured in the annual St. Paddy’s Day Parade in downtown Jackson. Their one of a kind outfits come with enhanced chests and butts and wouldn’t be complete without their big red-haired wigs. The eight of them, led by Browne, ride in style and make men grovel at their feet, as they stand atop their infamous float.
Jill Conner Browne
Browne and her colleagues are making a statement about pageants by making themselves queens for life. The Queens are exclusive, but there is a group called the Wannabes, who are women who want to be Queens, that try and pass outrageous tests to become one. The rules of being a Queen are simple: no matter how old you look, you’re still young at heart, so you’d better act like it. You’d think they would want their identities known, but that just isn’t the case. The extravagant outfits hide their true identities so that they can and do act however they want to without worrying about what others might think of them.
The purpose of this book is to give everyone who wants it, a glimpse into this southern belle’s fantastic lifestyle. The first chapter or so just gives backgrounds on the Queens, how they came to be, and where they’ve been since then. I advise that you don’t read the rest of the book if you get offended easily. The remainder of the book gives lessons and first and second hand accounts from Queens, Wannabes, family, and friends. Browne finishes the book off with recipes for any situation.
I enjoyed the book very much, but would like to mention that it was written for a mature audience, so I wouldn’t go out and buy it for your sweet little old grandmother. The stories, though funny, are a bit flashy and extremely blunt. Beating around the bush is not something this woman knows how to do. So if you’re feeling a little frisky or just dying for a good laugh, pick up The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love by Jill Conner Browne, you won’t be disappointed that you did.