The Mississippi Writers Page

John Grisham, the second oldest of five siblings, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas. His parents were Southern Baptists, and his father worked as a construction worker and a cotton farmer. After moving frequently, in 1967 the family settled in the outskirts of Memphis, in the little town of Southaven (DeSoto County, Mississippi), where John quarterbacked the Southaven High School football team. Encouraged by his mother, he became an avid reader and was especially influenced by the writings of John Steinbeck, whose clarity he admired. His brother Vaughn is one of the nation's leading experts on Community Development and is a professor of Public Administration at the University of Mississippi.

In 1977, Grisham received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Mississippi State University, in Jackson. He tried out for the baseball team at Delta State University but was cut by the coach, who was the former Boston Red Sox pitcher Dave Ferriss. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. During law school Grisham switched interests from tax law to criminal and general civil litigation. Upon graduation he entered a small-town general law practice for nearly a decade in Southaven, where he focused on criminal law and civil law, representing a broad spectrum of clients. As a young attorney he spent much of his time in court proceedings.

In 1983 he was elected by the Democrats to the Mississippi House of Representatives, where he served until 1990. During his time as a legislator, he continued his private law practice in Southaven. He has donated over $100,000 to Democratic Party candidates. In September, 2007, Grisham appeared with Hillary Rodham Clinton, his choice for U.S. President in 2008, and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, whom Grisham supported for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Republican John Warner (no relation to the governor). Grisham himself had considered challenging former GOP U.S. Senator George Allen, Jr. in the 2006 election in which Allen was narrowly defeated by the Democrat James Webb.

Grisham, like most successful writers, did not achieve instant success. He started out peddling his own books from the baggage compartment of his car. One of his favorite stops was at Square Books bookstore in Oxford. There Richard Howorth, the bookstore owner, not only agreed to put his books on his shelves, he invited Grisham to have book-signings. It may not have been quite as simple (and easy) in those early days as the Mississippi Writers Page suggests; but, needless to say, he made all the right moves and said all the right things. During his early success, he was interviewed a number of times on the Today Show. He is the prototype successful American novelist.