Editing John Grisham (section)

===Writing career===
[[File:Lepanto AR 26.jpg|thumb|This house in [[Lepanto, Arkansas]], was the house used in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie ''A Painted House''.]]
Although he failed English in community college, Grisham received praise for his writing while taking a business correspondence course during law school.<ref name=":0" /> Grisham said a case that inspired his first novel came in 1984, but it was not his case. He heard a 12-year-old girl telling a jury what had happened to her. Her story intrigued Grisham. He saw how the members of the jury cried as she told them about having been raped and beaten. "I remember staring at the defendant and wishing I had a gun." It was then, Grisham later wrote in ''[[The New York Times]]'', that a story was born.<ref name=BoxersBriefsBooks/> Over the next three years, he wrote his first book, ''A Time to Kill''. The book was rejected by 28 publishers before Wynwood Press, an unknown publisher, agreed to give it a modest 5,000 copy printing. It was published in June 1988.<ref name="The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture" /><ref name="Academy of Achievement"/>

The day after Grisham completed ''A Time to Kill'', he began work on his second novel, ''The Firm''.<ref name="Biography"/> ''The Firm'' remained on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for 47 weeks,<ref name="Academy of Achievement"/> and became the seventh [[List of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1990s|bestselling novel of 1991]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bestsellers.about.com/od/readingrecommendations/tp/grisham_picks.htm|title=Bestseller Books of the 1990s|access-date=December 1, 2007|work=About.com|archive-date=July 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707074957/http://bestsellers.about.com/od/readingrecommendations/tp/grisham_picks.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> This would begin a streak of having one of the top 10 best selling novels of the year for nearly the next two decades. In 1992 and 1993 he had the second-bestselling book of the year with ''[[The Pelican Brief]]'' and ''[[The Client (novel)|The Client]]'', and from 1994 to 2000 he had the number one bestselling book every year. In 2001 Grisham did not have the bestselling book of the year, but had both the second and third books on the list with ''[[Skipping Christmas]]'' and ''[[A Painted House]]''.

In 1992, ''The Firm'' was made into a [[The Firm (1993 film)|film]] starring [[Tom Cruise]] and [[Ed Harris]] and was released in June 1993, grossing $270 million.<ref>{{Mojo title |id= firm|title=The Firm|access-date = August 9, 2020}}</ref> A feature film version of ''[[The Pelican Brief (film)|The Pelican Brief]]'' starring [[Julia Roberts]] and [[Denzel Washington]] was released later that year and grossed $195 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pelicanbrief.htm |title=The Pelican Brief (1993)|website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=August 9, 2020}}</ref> Following their success, [[Regency Enterprises]] paid Grisham $2.25 million for the rights to ''The Client'' which was released in 1994 starring [[Susan Sarandon]] and [[Tommy Lee Jones]]. [[Universal Pictures]] then commissioned Grisham with the highest amount ever for an unpublished novel, paying $3.75 million for the rights to ''The Chamber''. In August 1994, [[New Regency]] paid a record $6 million for the rights to ''A Time to Kill'', with Grisham asking for a guarantee that [[Joel Schumacher]], the director of ''[[The Client (1994 film)|The Client]]'', would direct.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Daily Variety]]|date=January 12, 1995 |page=12|edition=61st anniversary|title=John Grisham}}</ref>

Beginning with ''A Painted House'', Grisham broadened his focus from law to the more general rural South but continued to write legal thrillers at the rate of one per year. In 2002 he once again claimed the number one book of the year with ''[[The Summons (Grisham novel)|The Summons]]''. In 2003 and 2004 he missed the number one bestseller of the year due to the success of ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' by [[Dan Brown]], but he once again produced two novels which ended the year [[List of bestselling novels in the United States in the 2000s|in the top 5]]. In 2004, ''[[The Last Juror]]'' ended the year at number four, and in 2005 he overtook ''The Da Vinci Code'' and returned to number one for the year with ''[[The Broker]]''. The year 2006 marked the first time since 1990 that he did not have one of the top-selling books of the year, but he returned to number two in 2007, number one in 2008, and number two in 2009. Grisham has also written sports fiction and comedy fiction. He wrote the original [[screenplay]] for and [[Film producer|produced]] the 2004 baseball movie ''[[Mickey (2004 film)|Mickey]]'', which starred [[Harry Connick Jr.]]<ref>{{Citation|title=Mickey (2004) |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0277895/fullcredits|work=IMDb|access-date=2019-12-31}}</ref>

In 2005, Grisham received the [[Helmerich Award|Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award]], which is presented annually by the [[Tulsa City-County Library|Tulsa Library Trust]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award |url=http://helmerichaward.org/winners/2005_john-grisham.php |work=Tulsa City-County Library |access-date=February 2, 2018}}</ref> In 2010, Grisham started writing a series of legal thrillers for children. They feature [[Theodore Boone]], a 13-year-old who gives his classmates legal advice on a multitude of scenarios, ranging from rescuing impounded dogs to helping their parents prevent their house from being repossessed. He said, "I'm hoping primarily to entertain and interest kids, but at the same time I'm quietly hoping that the books will inform them, in a subtle way, about law."<ref name="Middleton">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/7770412/Exclusive-best-selling-author-John-Grisham-explains-why-hes-courting-children-with-his-latest-legal-thriller.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/7770412/Exclusive-best-selling-author-John-Grisham-explains-why-hes-courting-children-with-his-latest-legal-thriller.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Exclusive: best-selling author John Grisham explains why he's courting children with his latest legal thriller |access-date=July 16, 2012 |work=The Telegraph |location=London |first=Christopher|last=Middleton |date=May 28, 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He also stated that it was his daughter, Shea, who inspired him to write the Theodore Boone series. "My daughter Shea is a teacher in North Carolina and when she got her fifth grade students to read the book, three or four of them came up afterwards and said they'd like to go into the legal profession."<ref name="Middleton" />

In an October 2006 interview on the ''[[Charlie Rose (TV series)|Charlie Rose]]'' show, Grisham stated that he usually takes only six months to write a book, and his favorite author is [[John le Carré]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Rose|first=Charlie|title=An hour with author John Grisham|url=http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/179 |work=Charlie Rose Show |date=October 13, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127065631/http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/179|archive-date=January 27, 2013}}</ref> In 2011 and 2012, his novels ''[[The Litigators]]'' and [[The Racketeer (novel)|''The Racketeer'']] claimed the top spot in ''The New York Times'' best seller list.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2011/11/13/ |title=Best Sellers - Books |date=November 13, 2011  |work=The New York Times }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2012/11/11/hardcover-fiction/ |title=Hardcover Fiction Books - Best Sellers - Books |date=November 11, 2012 |work=The New York Times }}</ref> The novels were among the best selling books of those years, spending several weeks atop various best seller lists.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204840504578089231030636740 |title=Best-Selling Books, Week Ended Oct. 28 |date=November 3, 2012 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=June 22, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203513604577140620731981302 |title=Best-Selling Books, Week Ended Jan. 1 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=January 7, 2012 |access-date=June 22, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204394804577010123989961992 |title=Best-Selling Books, Week Ended Oct. 30 |date=November 5, 2011 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=June 22, 2022}}</ref> In 2013, he again reached the top five in the [[Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 2010s|US best-seller list]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-books-bestsellers-idUSBRE9BB13420131226 |date=December 26, 2013 |title='Sycamore Row' holds top spot on U.S. best-sellers list |work=Reuters |access-date=June 22, 2022 }}</ref> In November 2015, his novel ''[[Rogue Lawyer]]'' was at the top of the ''New York Times'' Fiction Best Seller for two weeks.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2015/11/15/combined-print-and-e-book-fiction/ |title=Combined Print & E-Book Fiction - Best Sellers - Books |date=November 15, 2015  |work=The New York Times }}</ref>

In 2017, Grisham released two legal thrillers. ''Camino Island'' was published on June 6, 2017.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/books/review/john-grisham-camino-island.html |title=Plot Twist! John Grisham's New Thriller Is Positively Lawyerless |last=Maslin |first=Janet |date=May 31, 2017 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 18, 2018|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The book appeared at the top of several best seller lists including ''USA Today'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', and ''The New York Times''. ''The Rooster Bar'', published on October 24, 2017, was called "his most original work yet", in ''[[The News-Herald (Southgate, Michigan)|The News Herald]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thenewsherald.com/2018/04/08/john-grisham-pens-another-exciting-legal-drama-with-the-rooster-bar/ |title=John Grisham pens another exciting legal drama with 'The Rooster Bar' |last=O’Neill |first=John |work=News-Herald |location=Sterling Heights, Michigan |access-date=April 18, 2018}}</ref> and a “buoyant, mischievous thriller” in ''The New York Times''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/books/review-john-grisham-rooster-bar.html |title=John Grisham Prosecutes For-Profit Law Schools in 'The Rooster Bar' |first=Janet |last=Maslin |work=The New York Times |date=October 25, 2017 |access-date=June 22, 2022}}</ref>

====Southern settings====
Several of Grisham's legal thrillers are set in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi, in the equally fictional Ford County, a northwest Mississippi town still deeply divided by racism. The first novel set in Clanton was ''[[A Time to Kill (Grisham novel)|A Time to Kill]]''. Other stories set there include ''[[The Last Juror]]'', ''[[The Summons (Grisham novel)|The Summons]]'', ''[[The Chamber (novel)|The Chamber]]'', ''[[The Reckoning (Grisham novel)|The Reckoning]]'', ''[[A Time for Mercy]]'' and ''[[Sycamore Row]]''. The stories in the collection ''[[Ford County (short story collection)|Ford County]]'' are also set in and around Clanton. Other Grisham novels have non-fictional Southern settings, for example ''[[The Partner (Grisham novel)|The Partner]]'', ''[[The Runaway Jury]]'', and ''[[The Boys from Biloxi]]'' are set in [[Biloxi]], and large portions of ''[[The Pelican Brief]]'' in [[New Orleans]]. ''A Painted House'' is set in and around the town of Black Oak, Arkansas, where Grisham spent some of his childhood.