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BIO
Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, John Grisham was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby --- writing his first novel.
Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn't have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.
One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, 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 5 a.m. 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. The day after Grisham completed A TIME TO KILL, he began work on another novel, 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.
The successes of THE PELICAN BRIEF, which hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and THE CLIENT, which debuted at number one, confirmed Grisham's reputation as the master of the legal thriller. Grisham's success even renewed interest in A TIME TO KILL, which was republished in hardcover by Doubleday and then in paperback by Dell. This time around, it was a bestseller.
Since first publishing A TIME TO KILL in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are THE FIRM, THE PELICAN BRIEF, THE CLIENT, THE CHAMBER, THE RAINMAKER, THE RUNAWAY JURY, THE PARTNER, THE STREET LAWYER, THE TESTAMENT, THE BRETHREN, A PAINTED HOUSE, SKIPPING CHRISTMAS, THE SUMMONS, THE KING OF TORTS, BLEACHERS, THE LAST JUROR, THE BROKER, PLAYING FOR PIZZA, and THE APPEAL) and all of them have become international bestsellers. There are currently over 225 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 29 languages. Nine of his novels have been turned into films (THE FIRM, THE PELICAN BRIEF, THE CLIENT, A TIME TO KILL, THE RAINMAKER, THE CHAMBER, A PAINTED HOUSE, THE RUNAWAY JURY, and SKIPPING CHRISTMAS), as was an original screenplay, The Gingerbread Man. THE INNOCENT MAN (October 2006) marked his first foray into non-fiction.
Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA.
Grisham took time off from writing for several months in 1996 to return, after a five-year hiatus, to the courtroom. He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full-time writer: representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars. Preparing his case with the same passion and dedication as his books' protagonists, Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jury award of $683,500 --- the biggest verdict of his career.
When he's not writing, Grisham devotes time to charitable causes, including most recently his Rebuild The Coast Fund, which raised 8.8 million dollars for Gulf Coast relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He also keeps up with his greatest passion: baseball. The man who dreamed of being a professional baseball player now serves as the local Little League commissioner. The six ballfields he built on his property have played host to over 350 kids on 26 Little League teams.
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PAST INTERVIEW
May 1997
When the tour buses stopped at the end of John Grisham's driveway in Oxford, Mississippi,
he knew it was time to move. The Grishams are now happily settled in Virginia in a house
that's not quite as accessible to his legions of readers and fans. They have a quiet life
--- Grisham is never seen at Hollywood openings or New York book parties.
For that matter, he rarely gives interviews.
But when Jesse Kornbluth, editor of The Book Report, sent him twenty questions, he
promptly shot back twenty pointed answers.
We are delighted to present John Grisham's only interview before his new novel reaches
bookstores on February 26th.
Book Report: You've said that your mother didn't believe in television and that you grew
up reading books. Which books were most memorable? Did other kids tease you for being a
bookworm --- or did your athletic ability eliminate those taunts?
John Grisham: I was never a bookworm. I remember reading Dr. Seuss, the Hardy Boys, Emil
and the Detectives, Chip Hilton, and lots of Mark Twain and Dickens. My athletic ability
did nothing but invite taunts. I was an indifferent student and an athlete with delusions
of adequacy, dreams of adulation.
Book Report: All through high school and into college, you seem to have been more
committed to dreams of a professional baseball career than your studies. You've said that
changed watching a ball game. How so?
John Grisham: I was drifting through college, and one night I sat alone and watched a game
between Mississippi State and some forgotten opponent. It dawned on me that the players I
was watching, though my age, also had a very slight chance of playing pro ball. I decided
we were in the same boat. And it was best to start studying for a change.
Book Report: In your years as a lawyer, what was most satisfying about the law?
John Grisham: Getting out of it.
Book Report: Richard North Patterson told me that writing briefs for judges --- "the
most bored and jaded audience in the world" --- was great training for writing legal
fiction. How helpful was your legal training?
John Grisham: Crucial. I seriously doubt I would ever have written the first story had I
not been a lawyer. I never dreamed of being a writer. I wrote only after witnessing a
trial.
Book Report: You woke up at 5 AM for three years to write A Time to Kill, then went to
work --- 60 to 80 hours a week --- as a State Representative. You really considered
writing "a hobby?"
John Grisham: Yes, very much so. I would write for an hour or so each morning, then start
to work. My goal was simply to finish the first manuscript. It was only a hobby, a very
secret one.
Book Report: You have a close editorial collaboration with your wife. How does that work?
John Grisham: I constantly inundate Renee with all sorts of story ideas, and it's her job
to tell me to shut up and keep searching. She has an uncanny ability to spot a good story;
I tend to think that almost anything will work. Once I start writing, she is merciless as
the chapters pour forth. She enjoys picking a good brawl over a subplot, a weak character,
an unnecessary scene. I accuse her of looking for trouble ---- and, inevitably, I return
to the typewriter and fix whatever troubles her.
Book Report: What have you learned from reviews of your books?
John Grisham: I have learned not to read reviews. Period. And I hate reviewers. All of
them, or at least all but two or three. Life is much simpler ignoring reviews and the
nasty people who write them. Critics should find meaningful work.
Book Report: You've said you read Steinbeck in school. Because you increasingly write
about social issues, you're sometimes compared now to Dickens. What writers do you read,
and who are your influences?
John Grisham: I still read Steinbeck, Dickens and Twain. I'm not sure anyone has
influenced my style, but if I could emulate anyone it would be Steinbeck.
Book Report: If you get ideas from contemporary events or issues, what case inspired The
Partner?
John Grisham: None. The Partner is an old story. Lawyers dream of escaping, preferably
with the money. I've known several who tried it.
Book Report: In April, 1993, you and fellow members of the First Baptist Church in Oxford
went to Brazil and built houses for the poor --- did you draw on that experience for the
Brazil part of The Partner?
John Grisham: I love Brazil, and I go there often. I've been several times with church
groups, and our mission each trip is to build a small chapel for a local congregation, and
also to provide medical care to the sick. It's always satisfying. Of course, it provides a
rich landscape for the fiction.
Book Report: Forgive the over-simplification, but your previous novels tend to explore
David vs. Goliath themes, on the order of that Texas Rangers motto, "Little man whip
a big man every time if the little man is in the right and keeps on coming." Your
lawyer-fugitive in The Partner seems outside of that pattern. He strikes me as the
ultimate realist --- he plays the system against itself (as you write, "It was the
legal system protecting its own.") Is this an isolated plot point in a single novel,
or does it suggest a change in your views about the legal system?
John Grisham: No change; it's just the plot for this novel. I prefer to tackle issues ---
death penalty, tobacco litigation, insurance abuse, etc. --- but it's not always possible
every time out.
Book Report: In The Partner, you write, "Everyone wants to run away...At some point
in life, everyone thinks about running away." That's a succinct motivation for your
main character. Is that also your wish --- to be rid of the burden of celebrity and the
need to isolate yourself from a too-adoring public?
John Grisham: I wanted to run away from the law, but not like my main character. I have a
wonderful wife, great kids, a great family. My desire was to make a quick fortune (a
typical lawyer's dream) and run away from the profession. Now, though, I'm very content. I
can hide from the fame and the public can't find me.
Book Report: You've been publishing novels with remarkable regularity. The pressure on you
--- from readers and publishers and film studios --- to continue writing legal thrillers
must be immense. How do you do it, year after year? Do you have plans to branch out and
try other forms, even at the risk of being less "successful?"
John Grisham: There's no pressure. I write six months a year. I find my story, find its
voice, its people, its pace, and I retreat into my attic for six hours a day and shut out
everything but family. As I write, I don't think about the readers, the sales, the movies.
I think about the story. If I get it right, everything else falls into place. One day, and
I don't know when, I'll write other types of books. But not in the near future. I'd be
foolish to abandon this genre at this time.
Book Report: In the Oxford American, you indicted Hollywood --- well, Oliver Stone, anyway
--- for moral blindness. I've read that you wrote an original screenplay about a lawyer
and a seductress called "The Gingerbread Man." Did you find your anti-smut,
anti-violence principles challenged by this experience?
John Grisham: "The Gingerbread Man" is my first, and probably only, original
screenplay, and nothing was compromised. It's as mild as your average prime-time TV,
something I know nothing about. The Oliver Stone controversy --- that would take pages.
Book Report: You've said, "Bill Clinton and I may be distantly related." Does
that preclude you from commenting on the Paula Jones lawsuit?
John Grisham: Yes.
Book Report: As a Little League coach, how would you characterize yourself? Do you play
everyone at the expense of winning? How do you deflect the win-at-all-cost or
put-my-kid-in advice you get from other parents?
John Grisham: Every kid plays in every game. In fact, our league has a mandatory play
rule, and all the coaches support it. I don't know much about winning. I've coached my son
for seven years now, and my career winning percentage is .474. I ignore parents. If they
gripe and complain, I invite them to take their precious bundle elsewhere.
Book Report: Last year you described A Time to Kill as your favorite of your books. Still
think so?
John Grisham: Yes.
Book Report: In 1990, you said, "I'd like to do what Faulkner did --- carve out a
little piece of Mississippi territory and claim it as my own." With The Partner,
you've gone international. Are you finished with books about your home region?
John Grisham: For now. Maybe when I'm sixty, I'll go back to Ford County and write
stories, but not now.
Book Report: You tried a case last year. Think you'll do it again?
John Grisham: We won, and I was thrilled to leave the courtroom. I cannot see myself
returning. Trial work is quite stressful when you do it every day, and I had not seen a
courtroom in eight years. Never say never --- but never again.
Book Report: Last question --- and the one that everyone wants answered: You really shave
only on Sunday?
John Grisham: Yes, every Sunday, just before church.
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