Dixie Burrus was born on 9 September 1930 and her sister Mary Burrus on 5 September 1941 in North Carolina's Outer Banks, U.S.A, where their family had lived for generations, to sea captain Dozier Burrus and Achsah Williams. Their father was the professional baseball player Maurice Lennon "Dick" Burrus, they has other sister, Sarah Burrus. Dixie began writting contemporany romance novels as Zoe Dozier, now she writes her contemporary romances with her married name, Dixie Browning, and historical romances with her sister, Mary Burrus Williams as Brownwyn Williams, one combination of their married names. She has been awarded a Romance Writers of America RITA Award, and been a five-time RITA finalist. She has also won three Maggies, and numerous awards from the National Federation of Press Women and the NC Press Club.