John Ray Grisham Jr. is an American author, lawyer, activist, and a politician who is best known for his legal drama thriller bestselling novels. His books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 42 different languages across countries. He is only one of the 3 writers to have sold 2 million copies of a book on its first printing; the other two authors being JK Rowling and Tom Clancy.
In October 2020, he published the book ‘A Time for Mercy’. It was listed at number 2 in the New York Times Bestseller list.
In April 2021, John Grisham came up with a book called ‘ Sooley’ based on basketball, a divergent from his usual style of legal thrillers In October 2021, JohN Grisham released the book ‘ The Judges List’
Table of Contents
John Grisham – Net Worth and Royalties
John earns about $50 to $80 million in advances and royalties each year. As of 2020, his net worth is estimated to be $350 million.
Early Life and Education
John Grisham was born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He was the second child and had 5 siblings. His father John Ray Grisham was a cotton farmer and a construction worker, while his mother, Wanda, was a homemaker. The family relocated to Southaven in Mississippi when he was 4 years old.
John dreamt of becoming a baseball player when he was a child. When he was 18 years old, he gave up the sport after a beamer hurled at him by a hostile opponent barely missed him, thus avoiding any grave injuries on him.
Both his parents lacked formal education. But his mother always encouraged him to attend college. As a teen, he did various odd jobs, like watering bushes, repairing fences, sales-clerking, and plumbing, etc. While working as a highway asphalt worker, he encountered a gunfire incident which made him seriously think about finishing college.
John first went to the Northwest Mississippi Community College located in Senatobia, Mississippi and then enrolled at Cleveland’s Delta State University. He changed colleges quite a few times, before finally graduating in 1977 with a BS degree in accounting from the Mississippi State University. He then attended the School of Law at the University of Mississippi to become a tax attorney. He however found the subject to be lunatic and really complex. Therefore, he changed courses and studied general civil litigation. He received his Juris Doctor degree in 1981.
John Grisham – Writing Career
After graduating from law school, Grisham worked as a lawyer for nearly 10 years. He won the 1984 election in the 7th district for the Mississippi House of Representatives and became a politician. He represented the district till 1990. In his second term, he became the vice-chairman of the Apportionment and Elections Committee as well as a member of many other committees.
John published his first book ‘A Time to Kill’ in 1989. He had taken 4 years to write it. The novel was rejected by over 27 publishers before an unknown publisher named Wynwood Press agreed to publish 5000 copies. John has stated that the inspiration for the book came from a case he encountered in 1984. In that case, he came across a 12-year old girl recounting her tale of horror (of being beaten and raped) to the jury. He watched the trial and watched the jury cry as she was telling her story. He made a change to the story, wherein the father of the child kills the perpetrators and undergoes trial.
Grisham began writing his second novel ‘The Firm’ just after publishing his first one. The second book, published in 1991, was a big success and his writing career took off after it was published. After his second book, he stopped practicing law and quit politics. He briefly returned as a lawyer to fight a case for the family of a deceased railroad worker in 1996. He won the case and the jury awarded a sum of $683,500 to his clients. It was John’s biggest win in his career as an attorney.
‘The Firm’ remained listed as a bestseller for 47 weeks and was the 7th bestselling novel of the year. After this book, all his other new novels remained in the top 10 bestseller list for nearly 2 decades. Many were adapted into movies and TV series; some of his novels which were made into movies starring A-list Hollywood actors included A Time To Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Rainmaker, and The Runaway Jury. Grisham received an astounding $6 million for the film rights of the book ‘A Time to Kill’ in 1994.
Grisham has also written comedy and sports fiction, 3 non-fiction books, and short stories. He also wrote the screenplay for the 2004 film ‘Mickey’. In 2010, he began writing legal thrillers for children aged between 9 and 12 years. The protagonist of this children’s book series was Theodore Boone. Till date, Grisham has written 7 books in this series.
John Grisham – Wife and Children
- Grisham is married to Renee Jones and the couple has two children, Ty and Shea. They married on 8th May 1981.
- The daughter, Shea, is a school teacher in North Carolina. The son, Ty, attended the University of Virginia and played college baseball there.
John Grisham – House
- The family owns several homes. They have a farm and Victorian home near Oxford, Mississippi; a house in Destin, Florida; a mansion in Charlottesville, VA; and a condominium located at McCorkle Place, Chapel Hill, in North Carolina.
Trivia on John Grisham
-
- John has been a Christian since his childhood days. He however advocates for separation of the state from the church and does not like religion in politics. He did some missionary work in Brazil after finishing law school.
- He has continued to be passionate about baseball, even after giving it up professionally. He supports Little League baseball in Charlottesville and Oxford. He also constructed a youth baseball complex in 1996 for $3.8 million. He is also a fan of the baseball team of the Mississippi State University.
- John has stated that his favorite author is John le Carré. He has also stated that it takes just around 6 months for him to write a book.
- He is a member of ‘Innocence Project’ board of directors. He is against capital punishment.
John Grisham – pictures
John Grisham – young pictures
John Grisham-wife Renee Jones
