Booking John Grisham

John Grisham Biography

The American bestselling author John Grisham was born in 1955 in Arkansas. Grisham grew up in a working-class family, but his parents – despite their lack of formal education – encouraged John’s academic pursuits and his interest in school. Grisham worked a number of odd jobs as a teenager to help make ends meet and to save for college. After attending Northwest Mississippi Community College, Grisham then attended Delta State University, then Mississippi State University, and then finally the University of Mississippi School of Law; he ultimately graduated with a B.S. and then his J.D. in 1981.

Today, Grisham is best known for his highly successful legal thrillers. His first novel, A Time to Kill, was an immediate hit upon its publication in 1984, despite its initial rejection by nearly thirty publishers. The novel ultimately went on to list as a New York Times Best Seller for nearly a year, and spawned the film adaptation featuring Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock. His novel The Firm (1991) is to date his best-selling work; the novel also spawned the 1993 film adaptation starring Tom Cruise. Other major works, many of which have gone on to film adaptation, include: The Chamber, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Runaway Jury, and The Rainmaker.

John Grisham has published dozens of novels, most of which have been best-sellers and fourteen of which so far have been adapted into films. When he’s not writing, Grisham is an active supporter of the Innocence Project, which seeks to free unjustly convicted individuals using modern DNA technology which might not have been available at the time of their trials.