John Grisham

Born: 1955

John Ray Grisham Jr. is an American writer, lawyer, and former politician, known for his best-selling legal thrillers. Born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, he was the second of five children. His father was a construction worker and cotton farmer, and his mother was a homemaker who encouraged him to read and prepare for college. Grisham majored in accounting at Mississippi State University and graduated from law school at Ole Miss in 1981. He practiced law for nearly a decade in Southaven, Mississippi, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the Mississippi state House of Representatives and served until 1990. Inspired by a trial he observed in 1984, Grisham spent three years writing his first novel, A Time to Kill (1989). The book was rejected by 28 publishers before finally seeing print and sold only 5,000 copies. But his second novel, The Firm, spent 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and launched his career as one of the world's most successful authors. Grisham has written 37 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers and has sold nearly 300 million books in 40 languages. Many of his novels have been adapted into films and television series.