John Grisham was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas in 1955 to hard working parents. At a young age, he dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, but soon realized he was not cut out to play. Grisham changed his major after that to accounting and went on to law school, graduating in 1981.
Grisham practiced law for about 10 years in the small town of Southaven, Mississippi. He specialized in criminal defense and personal injury cases. In 1983, Grisham was elected to the State House of Representatives and stayed until 1990. After watching and listening to all of the cases and arguments that came before him, the idea to write a novel came naturally. Grisham now writes modern legal thrillers and is very good at it. He knows the laws and has a great perspective of the way the people should act when guilty or innocent.
Grisham's first novel was called A Time to Kill and was inspired by one of his court dealings. After listening to a case with a 12 year old rape victim, Grisham wondered how the whole thing would have played out if the dad had murdered the people who attacked his daughter. Grisham spent hours every day before work writing his thoughts down and putting them in order. After many refusals, he finally got a company to publish the book in 1988. It didn't take long for Grisham to realize that this was what he really loved to do and left the law firm, only returning one other time to a case he promised to represent before his first book became a success.
