Novelist, born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA. His early ambition was to play professional baseball, but he later studied accountancy at Mississippi State University (19757), and then law at the University of Mississippi (197881), after which he practised criminal and civil law. Also interested in politics, he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives (198390). His first novel, the crime thriller A Time To Kill (1989), was followed by a string of best-sellers, many of which have been made into successful films, and include The Firm (1991), The Rainmaker (1995), and The Testament (1999). Later novels include The Brethren (2000), The Last Juror (2004), and The Broker (2005). His first work of non-fiction, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, appeared in 2006.
John Grisham| Born: |
February 8, 1955 Jonesboro, Arkansas |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s): | Novelist |
| Nationality: | USA |
| Genre(s): | Legal thriller |
| Website: | http://www.jgrisham.com/ |
John Ray Grisham Jr. (born February 8, 1955) is a former politician, retired attorney, American novelist and author best known for his works of modern legal drama.
Biography and career
The second eldest of four siblings was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Southern Baptist parents of modest means. During law school, Grisham switched interests from tax law to criminal and general civil litigation.
In 1984 at the De Soto County courthouse in Hernando, Grisham witnessed the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim. In his spare time and as a hobby, Grisham began work on his first novel, which explored what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants.
The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a young attorney lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared.
Publishers Weekly declared Grisham "the bestselling novelist of the 90s," selling a total of 60,742,288 copies. Grisham's 1992 novel The Pelican Brief sold 11,232,480 copies in the United States alone.
Grisham returned briefly to the courtroom in 1996 after a five-year hiatus.
The Mississippi State University Libraries, Manuscript Division, maintains the "John Grisham Papers," an archive containing materials generated during the author's tenure as Mississippi State Representative and relating to his writings.
Grisham's lifelong passion for baseball is evident in his novel A Painted House and in his support of Little League activities in both Oxford, Mississippi and Charlottesville, Virginia.
Grisham is also well known within the literary community for his efforts to support the continuing literary tradition of his native South. Grisham has endowed scholarships and writer's residencies in the University of Mississippi's English Department and Graduate Creative Writing Program, and was the founding publisher of the Oxford American, a 'slick' magazine devoted to literary writing and famous for its annual music issue, copies of which include a compilation CD featuring contemporary and classic Southern musicians in genres ranging from blues and gospel to country-western and alternative rock.
In an October 2006 interview on the Charlie Rose talk show, Grisham stated that he usually takes only six months to write a book and that his favorite author was John le Carré.
Grisham describes himself as a "moderate Baptist."
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