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John Grisham Born February 8, 1955 to a homemaker and construction worker. He dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Instead, he went to the University of Mississippi and majored in accounting. After graduating law school, he went on to practice for nearly a decade in Southaven and specialized in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. In 1993, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served unti 1990. One day at the Dessoto County courthouse, he overheard the testimony of a 12 year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel and explore what would have happened had the girl's father murdered her assailants. It took him three years to finish the book because he got up at 5 a.m every morning ad write before he went to work. It was finally finished in 1987 and was named //A Time To Kill.// At first, it was rejected by many publishers until it was bought by Wynwood Press who only gave it 5,000 copies and published it in June of 1988. He wrote many more books, such as //The Pelican Brief, The Firm, The Street Lawyer,// and //The Chamber.// His novels have been translated into 29 different languages. Grisham resides with his wife, Renee, and their two children, Ty and Shea. In 1996, he took time off from writing to return to the courtroom after a five-year hiatus. He was hooring a promise he had made before he became a writer. He was representing the family of a railroad brakeman who was killed when he was pinned between two cars. He successfully argued this case and earned the family a jury award of $683,500, which was the biggest verdict of his career. When he's not writing, Grisham gives his time to charitable causes, and mission trips with his churches youth group. He also keeps up with baseball. He is the local Little League commissioner of his area. He built 6 baseball fields on his property, and has played host to over 350 kids on 26 Little League teams.

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