John Grisham, American Novelist

John Grisham was born on 6 February 1955, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. As a youth, he dreamed of being a professional baseball player. He received his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1981. In 1983, he was elected to the Mississippi State House of Representatives and served there until 1990. During his time in the State House of Representative, he continued his private law practice in Southaven, Mississippi. During that time, he donated over one-hundred-thousand dollars of his earnings to the Democratic Party.

During his practice as a lawyer, he overheard the testimony of a twelve year old girl who was a rape victim. He was so moved by the horrifying tale that he envisioned a story where the girl's father avenged the rape by killing the rapists. This became his first novel, "A Time to Kill," which was published in 1988. In 1996, it was made into a major motion picture directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Matthew McConaughey and Samuel L. Jackson. After publishing "A Time to Kill," Grisham started work on "The Firm." It was published in 1991.

It was major hit film in 1993, directed by the late Sydney Pollack. It starred Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Gene Hackman. These two novels started a prolific career of writing legal fiction. He has written seventeen novels about the law to date. He has also written four non-legal fiction novels and one non-fiction work. There have been eleven films based on his novels, one short story, and one original screenplay. He has retired from practicing law. Grisham lives with his wife, Renee, and their two children, Ty and Shea. They have a home in Oxford, Mississippi and another in Charlottesville, Virginia.