Brown is also the author of one non-fiction work, Street Blues, in which he writes about his experiences as a police reservist.

[3] In addition, he was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Alan Paton award in 2009 for his non-fiction book Street Blues: The experiences of a reluctant policeman; and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Africa Region) for Refuge.

His books are published in South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States of America and Canada.

He was an activist in the 1980s against the apartheid regime and was arrested/detained on several occasions, spending time in Pollsmoor Prison in solitary confinement.

Brown describes himself as having a great respect for Judaism and as being a supporter of the old ANC political party in South Africa.