John Grisham

"In life, finding a voice is speaking and living the truth. Each of you is an original. Each of you has a distinctive voice. When you find it, your story will be told. You will be heard."

John Grisham is a renowned American novelist, as well as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives. He has written no less than 37 consecutive number-one bestsellers, and sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. He is best known for his crime and thriller novels, with nine of his books being adapted for film; The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, A Painted House, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas.

The Innocent Man marked his first foray into non-fiction.

Meet John Grisham

John Grisham was born in Arkansas, Unites States in 1955. He spent many years studying and working in law, practicing in criminal law for a decade before he picked up a pen and started writing.

One day at the Dessoto County courthouse, John Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5am every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and

published it in June 1988.

That might have put an end to Grisham's hobby. However, he had already begun his next book, and it would quickly turn that hobby into a new full-time career - and spark one of publishing's greatest success stories.

His next novel, The Firm, is the story of a hotshot young attorney lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared. When he sold the film rights to The Firm to Paramount Pictures for $600,000, Grisham suddenly became a hot property among publishers, and book rights were bought by Doubleday. Spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, The Firm became the bestselling novel of 1991.

Today, Grisham and his wife split their time between several homes dotted around the United States.