John Grisham - Academy of Achievement

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Today he one of the world's bestselling authors, but John Grisham showed no early interest in writing. One day in 1984, three years after Grisham began practicing law in Southaven, Mississippi, he dropped by the courthouse to observe a trial. "This ten-year-old girl was testifying against a man who had raped her and left her for dead," he says. "I never felt such emotion and human drama in my life. I became obsessed wondering what it would be like if the girl's father killed that rapist and was put on trial. I had to write it down." Grisham has hardly stopped writing since then. Grisham's first novel, A Time To Kill, was published in 1989 and sold a mere 5,000 copies. But his second, The Firm, the story of a law school grad recruited by a firm with mob connections, spent a spectacular 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Once Grisham started writing, he never stopped. Every year brings a new bestseller from the master of the legal thriller. Many of his works, including The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client and The Rainmaker have been made into successful motion pictures."/> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="John Grisham - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"I find myself taking long walks on my farm with my wife, Renee, wondering what in the world happened," says Grisham.</p> <p class="inputText">Today he one of the world's bestselling authors, but John Grisham showed no early interest in writing. One day in 1984, three years after Grisham began practicing law in Southaven, Mississippi, he dropped by the courthouse to observe a trial. "This ten-year-old girl was testifying against a man who had raped her and left her for dead," he says. "I never felt such emotion and human drama in my life. I became obsessed wondering what it would be like if the girl's father killed that rapist and was put on trial. I had to write it down."</p> <p class="inputText">Grisham has hardly stopped writing since then. Grisham's first novel, <i>A Time To Kill,</i> was published in 1989 and sold a mere 5,000 copies. But his second, <i>The Firm</i>, the story of a law school grad recruited by a firm with mob connections, spent a spectacular 47 weeks on <em>The New York Times</em> bestseller list. Once Grisham started writing, he never stopped. Every year brings a new bestseller from the master of the legal thriller. Many of his works, including <i>The Firm</i>, <i>The Pelican Brief</i>, <i>The Client</i> and <i>The Rainmaker</i> have been made into successful motion pictures.</p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/grisham-2-hidef-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"I find myself taking long walks on my farm with my wife, Renee, wondering what in the world happened," says Grisham.</p> <p class="inputText">Today he one of the world's bestselling authors, but John Grisham showed no early interest in writing. One day in 1984, three years after Grisham began practicing law in Southaven, Mississippi, he dropped by the courthouse to observe a trial. "This ten-year-old girl was testifying against a man who had raped her and left her for dead," he says. "I never felt such emotion and human drama in my life. I became obsessed wondering what it would be like if the girl's father killed that rapist and was put on trial. I had to write it down."</p> <p class="inputText">Grisham has hardly stopped writing since then. Grisham's first novel, <i>A Time To Kill,</i> was published in 1989 and sold a mere 5,000 copies. But his second, <i>The Firm</i>, the story of a law school grad recruited by a firm with mob connections, spent a spectacular 47 weeks on <em>The New York Times</em> bestseller list. Once Grisham started writing, he never stopped. Every year brings a new bestseller from the master of the legal thriller. Many of his works, including <i>The Firm</i>, <i>The Pelican Brief</i>, <i>The Client</i> and <i>The Rainmaker</i> have been made into successful motion pictures.</p>"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="John Grisham - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/grisham-2-hidef-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/>  <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://s.w.org/"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20170606042728cs_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/dist/styles/main-2a51bc91cb.css"> </head> <body class="achiever-template-default single single-achiever postid-2438 john-grisham sidebar-primary">  <header class="main-header bg-black"> <div class="search-container clearfix"> <div class="container"> <a class="brand" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/"> <img class="logo" 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</div> </div> </header> <div class="" role="document"> <div class="content"> <main class="main"> <div class="feature-area__container"> <header class="feature-area feature-area--has-image ratio-container ratio-container--feature"> <figure class="feature-box"> <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image feature-area__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/grisham-2-hidef-Feature-Image-2800x1120-380x152.jpg [(max-width:544px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/03/grisham-2-hidef-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg [(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/03/grisham-2-hidef-Feature-Image-2800x1120-1400x560.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">John Grisham</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Bestselling Author</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-2438 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-writer"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane fade in active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">I had a story. It was a courtroom drama. I was doing a lot of courtroom work; I was a very young lawyer…I was sort of consumed with this story. And one night I just said, 'Okay. I’m going to try to capture it, see what I can do with words.’ And, that’s what happened.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">Master of the Legal Thriller</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> February 8, 1955 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p>John Grisham was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas. His father, a cotton farmer and itinerant construction worker, moved the family frequently, from town to town throughout the Deep South, settling in Southaven, Mississippi in 1967. Although his parents lacked formal education, his mother encouraged him to read and insisted that he prepare himself for college.</p> <figure id="attachment_26057" style="width: 1188px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26057 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26057 size-full lazyload" alt="John Grisham" width="1188" height="1098" data-sizes="(max-width: 1188px) 100vw, 1188px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057.jpg 1188w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057-380x351.jpg 380w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057-760x702.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">John Grisham has sold more than 300 million books and has had 28 consecutive number one fiction bestsellers.</figcaption></figure><p>By his own account, he had no interest in writing until after he embarked on his professional career. For his first two years in college, Grisham drifted. He attended three different colleges before earning a degree. After abandoning a youthful dream of a professional baseball career, he settled down to study accounting and prepare for a career as a tax lawyer. While in law school, his interest shifted from tax law to criminal law and litigation. After graduating from the University of Mississippi law school, he returned to Southaven and established a small private legal practice. He was elected the to Mississippi House of Representatives in 1983. By his second term he held the vice chairmanship of the Apportionment and Elections Committee, as well as memberships on the Insurance, Judiciary “A” and Military Affairs Committee.</p> <figure id="attachment_26048" style="width: 970px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26048 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/a-time-to-kill.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26048 size-full lazyload" alt="1989: John Grisham's first novel, "A Time to Kill," is a legal suspense thriller that was adapted into a film of the same name in 1996." width="970" height="1500" data-sizes="(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/a-time-to-kill.jpg 970w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/a-time-to-kill-246x380.jpg 246w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/a-time-to-kill-491x760.jpg 491w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/a-time-to-kill.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1989: John Grisham’s first novel, <em>A Time to Kill</em>, is a legal suspense thriller that was adapted into hit motion picture.</figcaption></figure><p>In Mississippi, attorneys in private practice are sometimes called upon to appear as public defenders for indigent clients. In this way, Grisham received invaluable experience of the criminal justice system. Inspired by a case he observed in a Mississippi courthouse, Grisham decided to write a novel. For years, he arrived at his office at five o’clock in the morning, six days a week, to work on his first book, <em>A Time To Kill.</em> His manuscript was rejected by 28 publishers before he found an unknown publisher who was willing to print a short run. Without the benefit of a major publisher’s marketing apparatus, the novice author went directly to booksellers, encouraging them to stock his book. Although <em>A Time to Kill</em> only sold a disappointing 5,000 copies, Grisham had already begun work on a second novel, <em>The Firm</em>. At the same time, bored with the routine of the state capital and eager to spend more time with his family, he decided not to seek re-election to the state legislature. He closed his office in Southaven and moved his family to Oxford, Mississippi, hoping to concentrate on his writing.</p> <figure id="attachment_26076" style="width: 742px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26076 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-firm.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26076 size-full lazyload" alt=""The Firm" is a 1991 legal thriller and the second novel by John Grisham. It was his first widely recognized book, and in 1993, after it sold 1.5 million copies, was made into a film starring Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman." width="742" height="1223" data-sizes="(max-width: 742px) 100vw, 742px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-firm.jpg 742w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-firm-231x380.jpg 231w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-firm-461x760.jpg 461w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-firm.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><em>The Firm</em> is a 1991 legal thriller and the second novel by John Grisham. It was his first widely recognized book, and in 1993, after it sold 1.5 million copies, was made into a motion picture starring Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman.</figcaption></figure><p>At age 36, his career as a novelist bloomed when movie rights to <em>The Firm</em> were sold for a hefty price, even before the book had found a publisher. <em>The Firm</em> sold more than seven million copies and spent 47 weeks on <em>The New York Times</em> bestseller list. With the success of <em>The Firm</em>, John Grisham finally gave up his law practice to write full-time. He has returned to the practice of law on only one occasion since, in 1996, to win a settlement for the family of a railroad worker killed on the job. Meanwhile he has continued to write enormously successful legal thrillers at the rate of nearly one a year. As of this writing, seven of his books — <em>The Chamber</em>, <em>The Rainmaker</em>, <em>The Street Lawyer</em>, <em>The Testament</em>, <em>The Brethren</em>, <em>The Summons</em> and <em>The Broker</em> — were the bestselling novels of their respective years.</p> <figure id="attachment_30481" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30481 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-Grishman-John-hugging-lady-in-black-dress-on-front-porch.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-30481 lazyload" alt="John Grisham, at home in Oxford, Mississippi with his wife, Renee." width="2280" height="2296" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-Grishman-John-hugging-lady-in-black-dress-on-front-porch.jpg 2280w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-Grishman-John-hugging-lady-in-black-dress-on-front-porch-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-Grishman-John-hugging-lady-in-black-dress-on-front-porch-377x380.jpg 377w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-Grishman-John-hugging-lady-in-black-dress-on-front-porch-755x760.jpg 755w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-Grishman-John-hugging-lady-in-black-dress-on-front-porch.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">John Grisham, at home in Oxford, Mississippi with his wife, Renee. After graduating from law school and passing the bar exam in 1981, Grisham married Renee Jones, a childhood friend from Southaven, and they returned to their hometown where he became a litigator. His practice thrived and soon he was inspired to write his first novel.</figcaption></figure><p>Beginning in 2001, Grisham has occasionally departed from the format of the legal thriller to write works of fiction on other subjects, particularly baseball and life in the rural South. The first of these was <em>A Painted House</em>, followed by <em>Skipping Christmas</em>, <em>Bleachers</em> and <em>Playing for Pizza</em>. His 2009 book of short stories, <em>Ford County</em>, returned to the setting of his first novel. No fewer than ten of Grisham’s tales have been adapted for film and television, including <em>The Firm</em>, <em>The Pelican Brief</em>, <em>The Client</em>, <em>The Rainmaker</em> and the original screenplay <em>The Gingerbread Man</em>. The film version of <em>Skipping Christmas</em> was re-titled <em>Christmas with the Kranks</em>.</p> <figure id="attachment_26068" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26068 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-5.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26068 size-full lazyload" alt="2009: John Grisham, 20 years after he published his first novel, "A Time to Kill," at the DeSoto County Courthouse in Hernando, Mississippi, where he tried cases for about ten years. (Lisa Buser)" width="2280" height="2681" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-5.jpg 2280w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-5-323x380.jpg 323w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-5-646x760.jpg 646w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-5.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2009: John Grisham, 20 years after he published his first novel, <em>A Time to Kill</em>, at the DeSoto County Courthouse in Hernando, Mississippi, where he tried cases for about ten years. Nine of his books have been made into movies.</figcaption></figure><p>Today, John Grisham and his wife, Renee Jones, keep homes in Oxford, Mississippi and near Charlottesville, Virginia. Apart from his writing, Grisham is a generous supporter of Little League teams in Oxford and Charlottesville and has endowed a writing scholarship at the University of Mississippi.</p> <figure id="attachment_26874" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26874 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-GettyImages-185468825.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26874 size-full lazyload" alt="2013: Author John Grisham, wife Renee Joes and guest attend the Broadway opening night of "A Time To Kill" at The Golden Theatre in New York City. (J. Countess/WireImage)" width="2280" height="2108" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-GettyImages-185468825.jpg 2280w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-GettyImages-185468825-380x351.jpg 380w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-GettyImages-185468825-760x703.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-GettyImages-185468825.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2013: John Grisham with wife Renee and family at the Broadway Opening Night Performance of <em>A Time To Kill</em>.</figcaption></figure><p>Grisham’s nonfiction book, <em>The Innocent Man</em> (2006), recounted the real-life case of Ron Williamson, a former professional baseball player sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. Williamson was eventually released; his case exposed glaring inadequacies in the criminal justice system. John Grisham is also a board member of the Innocence Project, an organization that promotes the use of DNA evidence to exonerate the wrongly convicted. He has spoken and written publicly against America’s high rates of incarceration and is an outspoken opponent of capital punishment.</p> <figure id="attachment_26052" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26052 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham_John_72dpi_17193.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26052 size-full lazyload" alt="2012: 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. (Jonas Karlsson/trunkarchive.com)" width="2280" height="1665" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham_John_72dpi_17193.jpg 2280w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham_John_72dpi_17193-380x278.jpg 380w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham_John_72dpi_17193-760x555.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham_John_72dpi_17193.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2012: When he’s not writing, Grisham devotes time to charitable causes, including 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 ballfields he built on his property have played host to over 350 kids on 26 teams.</figcaption></figure><p>Despite these interests and activities, Grisham has not stopped producing bestselling novels, such as <em>The Associate</em> and <em>The Confession</em>, or his 2011 comic novel, <em>The Litigators</em>. In 2010, he initiated a continuing series of novels for younger readers with <em>Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer</em>. In addition to the baseball-themed 2012 novel, <em>Calico Joe</em>, he has continued to craft highly successful thrillers, including <em>The Racketeer</em>, <em>Sycamore Row</em>, <em>Gray Mountain</em>, <em>Rogue Lawyer</em> and <em>The Whistler (2016)</em>.</p> </body></html> <div class="clearfix"> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 1993 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.writer">Writer</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> February 8, 1955 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="inputTextFirst">“I find myself taking long walks on my farm with my wife, Renee, wondering what in the world happened,” says Grisham.</p> <p class="inputText">Today he one of the world’s bestselling authors, but John Grisham showed no early interest in writing. One day in 1984, three years after Grisham began practicing law in Southaven, Mississippi, he dropped by the courthouse to observe a trial. “This ten-year-old girl was testifying against a man who had raped her and left her for dead,” he says. “I never felt such emotion and human drama in my life. I became obsessed wondering what it would be like if the girl’s father killed that rapist and was put on trial. I had to write it down.”</p> <p class="inputText">Grisham has hardly stopped writing since then. Grisham’s first novel, <i>A Time To Kill,</i> was published in 1989 and sold a mere 5,000 copies. But his second, <i>The Firm</i>, the story of a law school grad recruited by a firm with mob connections, spent a spectacular 47 weeks on <em>The New York Times</em> bestseller list. Once Grisham started writing, he never stopped. Every year brings a new bestseller from the master of the legal thriller. Many of his works, including <i>The Firm</i>, <i>The Pelican Brief</i>, <i>The Client</i> and <i>The Rainmaker</i> have been made into successful motion pictures.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/QzpfFPdNx4s?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=1149&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_12_28_19.Still006-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_12_28_19.Still006-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">Master of the Legal Thriller</h2> <div class="sans-2">Williamsburg, Virginia</div> <div class="sans-2">June 2, 1995</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p><strong>When did you decide to start writing?</strong></p> <p>The writing has come fairly late in life. I never dreamed of being a writer when I was a kid, even a student, even in college. In fact, I’d been practicing law for about three or four years in the early ’80s, when I decided to make a stab at writing a story that I’d been thinking about. And the story eventually became <em>A Time to Kill.</em></p> <figure id="attachment_26066" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26066 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johngrisha_6905555_11586349.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26066 size-full lazyload" alt="John Grisham" width="2280" height="1575" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johngrisha_6905555_11586349.jpg 2280w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johngrisha_6905555_11586349-380x263.jpg 380w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johngrisha_6905555_11586349-760x525.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johngrisha_6905555_11586349.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">A University of Mississippi School of Law graduate, John Grisham’s books have been translated into 42 languages.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>What inspired you to begin with?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/JRid8jtEWR4?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_14_51_27.Still011-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_14_51_27.Still011-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>John Grisham: When I started all this, my motives were pure. I was not driven by greed or money. I had a story. It was a courtroom drama. I was doing a lot of courtroom work; I was a very young lawyer. But I was handling a lot of court-appointed criminal cases, in trial a lot. And I knew the criminal system, and I knew a lot about it. So I came up with a story about a murder trial, and some of it was based on personal experience, most of it was not. And I kept telling myself, I would like to be the lawyer who defended a father who murdered the two guys who raped his daughter. I think that would be a fascinating case. One thing led to another, and I was sort of consumed with this story. And one night I just said, “Okay. I’m going to try to capture it, see what I can do with words.” And that’s what happened.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body> <p>It took three years to write it, and I was very disciplined about doing it. It was very much a hobby. By the time I finished it, I had developed a routine of writing every day. When I finished it, I went to the next book, which was <em>The Firm.</em> Once that was written, everything started changing. I wouldn’t use the word “accident,” but it certainly wasn’t planned. I never dreamed of it.</p> <figure id="attachment_26067" style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26067 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-4.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26067 size-full lazyload" alt="January 27, 2009: John Grisham attends Barnes & Noble Union Square to signs copies of "The Associate" in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images) " width="2000" height="3000" data-sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-4.jpg 2000w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-4-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-4-507x760.jpg 507w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-4.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">January 27, 2009: John Grisham attends Barnes & Noble Union Square to sign copies of <em>The Associate</em> in New York.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>You found the time to write, so you must have been pretty motivated.</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/nZtDH94iiK4?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_12_28_19.Still006-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_12_28_19.Still006-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>John Grisham: The bulk of the first two books, <em>A Time to Kill</em> and <em>The Firm,</em> those books were written over a five-year period, back-to-back, from about 1984 to about 1989. The bulk was written at five o’clock in the morning, from five ’til seven in the morning. I’d get up and go to the office that early. And again, it wasn’t any fun, but it was a habit. It got to be part of the daily routine. And I remember several times being in court at nine o’clock in the morning, really tired, because writing takes a lot out of you. It’s draining. And I would do it for an hour or two in the morning, and get ready for court, and go to court. Be standing, waiting for the judge, and be really tired.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26051" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26051 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gettyimages-697810_master.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26051 size-full lazyload" alt="February 2, 2002: Stephen King, John Grisham, Peter Straub and Pat Conroy attend a benefit reading for actor and audiobook narrator Frank Muller at Town Hall in New York City. (Getty)" width="2280" height="1496" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gettyimages-697810_master.jpg 2280w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gettyimages-697810_master-380x249.jpg 380w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gettyimages-697810_master-760x499.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gettyimages-697810_master.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">February 2, 2002: Stephen King, John Grisham, Peter Straub and Pat Conroy attend a benefit reading in New York.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Was there a moment in your career that really stands out as a turning point?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: There have been some wonderful phone calls from New York. The biggest phone call yet was the first time, a truly magical moment. After a year of being turned down, my agent called one day in April of ’88 and said, “We have a publisher for <em>A Time to Kill.</em> It’s going to be a book.” At that point it had been turned down by 30-something publishers. Everybody had said no to it. He found a very small press in New York, and they wanted to buy it. That was a huge moment.</p> <p>Another time, he called and said, “We’ve sold the film rights to <em>The Firm</em> to Paramount.” It was totally unexpected, because at that time there was no book deal, it was just in manuscript form. Those are big moments. I don’t know if you sort of get jaded, or callous to success, but it’s still terribly exciting. It’s still hard to believe.</p> <p><em>The Firm</em> was published four years ago, so it’s been awfully quick. <em>The Firm</em> was not the first book, but it was the first book anybody read. My career is still in its infancy and it still feels brand new. Something happens every day that makes me stop and try to remember where I am and what’s happening.</p> <figure id="attachment_26045" style="width: 3996px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26045 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/169160-John-Grisham-2013-%C2%A9-Daniel-Mayer-Agentur-Focus-562b67-original-1433167769.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26045 size-full lazyload" alt="2010: John Grisham in Munich, Germany." width="3996" height="5008" data-sizes="(max-width: 3996px) 100vw, 3996px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/169160-John-Grisham-2013-©-Daniel-Mayer-Agentur-Focus-562b67-original-1433167769.jpg 3996w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/169160-John-Grisham-2013-©-Daniel-Mayer-Agentur-Focus-562b67-original-1433167769-303x380.jpg 303w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/169160-John-Grisham-2013-©-Daniel-Mayer-Agentur-Focus-562b67-original-1433167769-606x760.jpg 606w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/169160-John-Grisham-2013-©-Daniel-Mayer-Agentur-Focus-562b67-original-1433167769.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2010: John Grisham opposes the death penalty — an opposition strongly manifested in the plot of <em>The Confession</em>.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Tell us about your family and your friends.</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: It’s easy to remember friends.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/HnWmb03Sobs?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_10_25_04.Still004-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_10_25_04.Still004-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/integrity/">Integrity</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>When <em>A Time to Kill</em> was published, it was an unknown author, unknown book, unknown publisher. There was no money for promotion, so I tried to sell the book myself. And I went to a lot of book stores in the Memphis, mid-South area, and a lot of them had no time, you know? They didn’t want a new author, especially one with a publisher they’d never heard of. But there were a handful who opened their doors and said, “Sure, come in. We’ll try to sell some books, and we’ll have a party, and we’ll invite all of our customers.”</p> <p>And, you know, it’s hard to forget people like that. And it’s fun now. I go back every time. I’ve gone back with every book. There are five stores. I call them — they’re my home stores. These are friends of mine, and I can’t imagine publishing a book and not going back to their stores. I mean, now the book signings last for, you know, ten or 12 hours, but you know, it’s still fun. It’s tiring, but it’s only once a year. I don’t do it every day. And there are worse things in life than signing lots of copies of your own books. I’m still gratified that people show up and wait in line to get a book signed.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26049" style="width: 2048px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26049 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/bush.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26049 size-full lazyload" alt="May 2014: Eric Blehm, Barbara Bush, John Grisham, Maria and Neil Bush at "A Celebration of Reading," the 20th annual fundraiser benefiting the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy." width="2048" height="1365" data-sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/bush.jpg 2048w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/bush-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/bush-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/bush.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">May 2014: Bestselling author Eric Blehm, former First Lady Barbara Bush, John Grisham, Maria and Neil Bush at “A Celebration of Reading,” the 20th annual fundraiser benefiting the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.</figcaption></figure><p>And, you know…</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/w-pGDNjtLv8?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_14_36_20.Still010-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_14_36_20.Still010-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/integrity/">Integrity</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>The pressure of really sudden notoriety and success, it’s good and bad. I mean, it’s something you think you’d like to have, and it’s something that’s nice. There are a lot of rewards. The good far outweighs the bad. But you catch yourself trying to remember what’s important to you, your friends and families and what you enjoyed doing years before. We have two small children, and we had a life before all this happened. And even then — we call it BF, before <em>The Firm,</em> that’s how we judge time — everything we did revolved around the kids, and it’s still that way. We’ve sort of regrouped as a family, and we kind of stick to ourselves, with a few friends. It makes you appreciate the friends you had, because now everybody wants to be friends. It makes you deeply appreciative of the people who are truly friends. We’ve stayed away from the success. We live in Mississippi, and in Virginia. We live in both places, but it’s country living. We try to keep it simple, and we stay away from Hollywood, New York and all those places where the attention really is.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26054" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-26054 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/IMG_5932.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-26054 lazyload" alt="2015: John Grisham, backed by Governor Phil Bryant, Lt. Governor Tate Reeves and U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper, welcomes the crowd at the opening ceremony for the Mississippi Book Festival. (Mississippi Book Festival)" width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/IMG_5932.jpg 2280w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/IMG_5932-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/IMG_5932-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/IMG_5932.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2015: John Grisham, backed by Governor Phil Bryant, Lt. Governor Tate Reeves and U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper, welcomes the crowd at the opening ceremony for the Mississippi Book Festival. (Mississippi Book Festival)</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Did you have any conception of the kind of success that you’ve come to?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: It’s been one book at a time. <em>A Time to Kill</em> was published, but nobody bought it. About the time it was published, I was finished with <em>The Firm.</em> <em>The Firm</em> slowly became a bestseller when it was published. While it was getting this attention, I was writing the next book, which was <em>The Pelican Brief.</em></p> <p>Each book has built on the other. Then the movies came along and added a much heavier layer of fame and notoriety, and pressure. It’s just snowballed, but there’s no way I could have predicted that, because I can’t predict what’s going to happen next year with the movies and the books. I don’t have a feel for everything that’s coming.</p> <figure id="attachment_26046" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26046 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/509277460.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26046 size-full lazyload" alt="February 9, 2016: Writer John Grisham and his wife, Renee, look on during a college basketball game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Virginia Tech Hokies at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)" width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/509277460.jpg 2280w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/509277460-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/509277460-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/509277460.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">February 9, 2016: Writer John Grisham and his wife, Renee, look on during a college basketball game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Virginia Tech Hokies at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Layton/Getty)</figcaption></figure></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/8KGC3dJ4mNc?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_10_22_07.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham-John-1995-MasterEdit.00_10_22_07.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/the-american-dream/">The American Dream</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>My parents did not have the benefit of college. They didn’t get to go to college. They were from a very rural part of the Deep South, where most of my relatives were from. College to them was always a dream. For us, it was always a requirement. We knew — because they told us — we’d go to college. And they worked very hard to pay for it, and to provide it for all of five kids. And I was the first member of my family to finish college, and to get a graduate degree in law, and to start practicing law. And for the family, that was a source of immense pride. To me, that’s the American Dream, for one generation to keep building the dream for later generations.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26060" style="width: 1175px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26060 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom126.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26060 size-full lazyload" alt="John Grisham, at home in Oxford, Mississippi. (© Ann States/Saba)" width="1175" height="1103" data-sizes="(max-width: 1175px) 100vw, 1175px" data-srcset="/web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom126.jpg 1175w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom126-380x357.jpg 380w, /web/20170606042728im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom126-760x713.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042728/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom126.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">John Grisham at home in Oxford, Mississippi. He practiced criminal law for a decade and served in the House of Representatives in Mississippi. He describes his conversion to Christianity “the most important event in his life.”</figcaption></figure></body></html> </div>    <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>What does the phrase, “the American Dream” mean to you?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: It’s hard to define, but I guess I’m living it. At times I feel like I’m living a dream. My parents did not have the benefit of college. They didn’t get to go to college. They were from a very rural part of the Deep South, where most of my relatives were from. College to them was always a dream. For us, it was always a requirement. We knew — because they told us — we’d go to college. And they worked very hard to pay for it, and to provide it for all of five kids. And I was the first member of my family to finish college, and to get a graduate degree in law, and to start practicing law. And for the family, that was a source of immense pride. To me, that’s the American Dream, for one generation to keep building the dream for later generations.</p> <p>My success was not planned, but it could only happen in America. We entertain the world. There are very few foreign authors that sell here. There are a lot of American authors who sell well around the world. There are very few foreign movies that anybody will watch here. Yet our movies and our music are watched and listened to around the world.</p> <p><strong>Did you have any experiences when you were a kid that inspired you?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: There were a couple of things that were very important in my childhood. Number one, my mother did not believe in television. We just didn’t watch much of it. She just thought it was bad, and that was 30 years ago. She believed in books, and we were taught to read early. We were encouraged to read, throughout childhood and adolescence, by my mother.</p> <p>We moved a lot when I was a kid, throughout the Deep South. We would always go to a new town and go to the library, get our library cards and load up with books. And we spent our time reading, reading to each other. And my mother spent a lot of time reading to us. I’ve always had a love for books and a love for literature and a love for reading. Oddly, I never thought about writing until late in life.</p> <p><strong>Was there a person who inspired you?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: I had the benefit of some very good high school English teachers. One in particular when I was a senior in high school. I was a jock, okay. I was not a student. Although I enjoyed reading, that was about it as far as academics.</p> <p>But she forced us to read good books and good writers, particularly good American writers. We weren’t too thrilled to do it initially, but she taught us how to do it. Through that, I discovered some of my favorite authors, particularly John Steinbeck. Once I had gone through all of Steinbeck’s books, I realized that I had had a wonderful experience.</p> <p>I remember reading a lot of Steinbeck in high school and thinking, “I’d love to be able to write this clearly.” At the same time we were having to read Faulkner. So we had Faulkner on one hand, and Steinbeck on the other, and Steinbeck looked remarkably clear, compared to Faulkner. I can’t say that when I’m in Mississippi, but I can say it here.</p> <p><strong>What was the teacher’s name?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: Francis McGuffey. She’s still teaching, and we still correspond. She comes to my book signings in Memphis when I’m there. I send her an autographed copy of every book. We’re still friends, still buddies.</p> <p><strong>What particular books meant a lot to you when you were young?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: I read a lot of books when I was a kid, just for the sheer fun of reading. All the series of mysteries and books like that.</p> <p>The first book I remember that really grabbed me was a book that Miss McGuffey made us read, a book called <em>Tortilla Flat</em> by Steinbeck. And when I read it, I really enjoyed the book. And so I went to her and said, “This is really — I like this.” And she was shocked that I would show any interest in what she was making us do. So she said, okay, read this. And the next one was <em>Of Mice and Men.</em> So she sort of fed the Steinbeck books to me. When I read <em>The Grapes of Wrath</em> — we saved that for last — I knew that was a very powerful book. And I don’t know if it had anything to do with my writing style, or me as a writer, because I wasn’t thinking about it back then. It had a lot to do with the way I viewed humanity and the struggles of little people against big people. It was a very important book for me.</p> <p><strong>What was your ambition when you were growing up?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: To play professional baseball, like every kid, from the time I was six years old until I was 20. It took a long time for the dream to die. It took a long time to realize I didn’t have the talent to play, which is always difficult to accept.</p> <p><strong>At what point did you decide to become a lawyer, and how did you go on to become a writer?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: There was a pivotal moment. I grew up in a very small, close-knit, Southern Baptist family, where everything was off-limits. So I couldn’t wait to get to college and have some fun. And I did for the first two years. And I regret a lot of it, because my grades were in terrible shape. I never got in serious trouble, except for my grades.</p> <p>For two years of college, I was going nowhere. And before my junior year in college I said to myself, “Enough of the partying, it’s time to get busy and get serious.” And I decided to study accounting, which was a tough degree to get, and to take that and go to law school and become a tax lawyer. I had sort of a business background, or mentality, I guess. That’s what I enjoyed. And I did. At that point I just said, “Okay, it’s time to get serious.” And I was 20 years old. And at about the same time I said, “Okay, it’s time to forget about playing baseball.” I’d played baseball in junior college, and so it was time for that boyhood dream to go away. And at that point I was no longer a kid.</p> <p><strong>Sometimes giving up a dream can lead to other dreams.</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: Yeah. I had to give that up before I could really be happy pursuing something else. It had been with me so long and the talent simply was not there. I can’t tell you what made it happen, but it was a very real, definite moment, when I said, “Okay, it’s time to grow up.”</p> <p><strong>Are there personal characteristics that you think are important for success in every field?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: I love to talk to kids and ask them where they’re going to college, and what they want to study. And so often it’s all planned. They know exactly where they’re going, what they’re going to do and where they’re going to be ten years from now. I don’t want to dampen their enthusiasm, but I want to say, “You can’t plan everything.” I never planned to write books, it was not something I ever thought about. I thought I’d be a lawyer for the rest of my life. It’s important to have goals and to work hard for them, but life has a way of presenting opportunities that you don’t really notice at first. Success a lot of times depends on whether you make a change and try something that you hadn’t planned, something new.</p> <p>I give commencement speeches occasionally to colleges and high schools, and I usually dwell on that, tell the students, “Get your education and work hard, but don’t race toward the age of 22 or 23 when you’re out of college, and you’ve got the credit card, and you’ve got the BMW, and you want everything right then at the age of 23, because you’re not going to enjoy your education.” I tell kids to stay in school until they’re 30 years old. Their parents hate me for it, but nobody really takes you very seriously until you’re 30 anyway. You need to spend a lot of time in school.</p> <p><strong>What advice would you give to one of these kids if they wanted to write a novel?</strong></p> <p>John Grisham: There are certain things you can do now. I don’t know how much of it is talent. There has to be some talent there, the ability to tell stories, the ability to handle language. There are certain things you cannot do now, but there are certain things you can do now to prepare for it.</p> <p>The basics of grammar and vocabulary are very important. And you tend to take it for granted, until you start trying to write. It is terribly important to read extensively. Virtually all writers I know are voracious readers still, and that is preparation. The more you read, the more you know. The more your imagination works, the more you read. And that’s — those are the tools of a good writer. You have to live. Nobody wants to hear — the world does not want to hear — a great novel from a 21 year-old. You’ve got to get a real job and get a real career, and you’ve got to go to work. And you’ve got to live and you’ve got to succeed and fail, and suffer, a little bit, or see suffering, heartache and heartbreak and all that before you really have anything to write.</p> <p>If you’ve got the money, it’s nice to travel. Keep journals. Take notes about what you’re doing. You can practice writing. You can start writing now, writing stories and books, or whatever you want to write. The discipline of it is important. All those things are important. Now, can you piece them all together and tell a wonderful story? You won’t know until you try.</p> <p><strong>Thanks for talking with us. It’s been great.</strong></p> <p>You’re welcome.</p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">John Grisham Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>34 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.648590021692" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-firm.jpg" data-image-caption=""The Firm" is a 1991 legal thriller and the second novel by John Grisham. It was his first widely recognized book, and in 1993, after it sold 1.5 million copies, was made into a film starring Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman." data-image-copyright="the-firm" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-firm-231x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/the-firm-461x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.925" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-GettyImages-185468825.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham with wife Renee Grisham and Family attending the Broadway Opening Night Performance of 'A Time To Kill' at the Golden Theatre in New York City on October 20, 2013. (J. Countess/WireImage)" data-image-copyright=""A Time To Kill" Broadway Opening Night - Arrivals & Curtain Call" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-GettyImages-185468825-380x351.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-GettyImages-185468825-760x703.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5322580645161" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/The-Client.jpg" data-image-caption="1993: John Grisham's fourth novel, "The Client," is a legal thriller set mostly in Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana." data-image-copyright="the-client" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/The-Client-248x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/The-Client-496x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5139442231076" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pelican-brief.jpg" data-image-caption="1992: John Grisham's third novel, "The Pelican Brief," is a legal-suspense thriller. The book was later made into a film in 1993, and was a box office hit, grossing over $195 million worldwide." data-image-copyright="pelican-brief" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pelican-brief-251x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pelican-brief-502x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67631578947368" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/kranks.jpg" data-image-caption="November 2004: John Grisham and Chris Columbus attend the world premier of "Christmas with the Kranks," a Christmas comedy film based on the 2001 novel "Skipping Christmas" by John Grisham. It was directed by Joe Roth, with a screenplay by Chris Columbus." data-image-copyright="kranks" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/kranks-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/kranks-760x514.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3427561837456" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Kassell-and-Grisham_06-3.jpg" data-image-caption="2016: Neal Kassell, M.D., Chairman of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, with John Grisham. (Focused Ultrasound Foundation)" data-image-copyright="Grisham and Kassell" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Kassell-and-Grisham_06-3-283x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Kassell-and-Grisham_06-3-566x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.1764705882353" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-5.jpg" data-image-caption="2009: John Grisham, 20 years after he published his first novel, "A Time to Kill," at the DeSoto County Courthouse in Hernando, Mississippi, where he tried cases for about ten years. (Lisa Buser)" data-image-copyright="Grisham" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-5-323x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-5-646x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4990138067061" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-4.jpg" data-image-caption="January 27, 2009: John Grisham attends Barnes & Noble Union Square to signs copies of "The Associate" in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images) " data-image-copyright="John Grisham Signs Copies Of "The Associate"" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-4-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham-4-507x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.69078947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johngrisha_6905555_11586349.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham" data-image-copyright="johngrisha_6905555_11586349" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johngrisha_6905555_11586349-380x263.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/johngrisha_6905555_11586349-760x525.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3333333333333" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/rainmaker.jpg" data-image-caption=""The Rainmaker" is a 1995 novel by John Grisham. This was Grisham's sixth novel. It differs from most of his other novels in that it is written almost completely in the simple present tense. In 1997, "The Rainmaker" was adapted into a feature film by the same name, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, and Danny Glover." data-image-copyright="rainmaker" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/rainmaker-285x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/rainmaker-570x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.98947368421053" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom131.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham, at home in Oxford, Mississippi. (© Ann States/Saba)" data-image-copyright="john-grishom131" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom131-380x376.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom131-760x752.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.6740088105727" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/runaway-jury.jpg" data-image-caption="1996: "The Runaway Jury" is a legal thriller novel written by author John Grisham. It was Grisham's seventh novel." data-image-copyright="runaway-jury" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/runaway-jury-227x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/runaway-jury-454x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.93684210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom130.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham" data-image-copyright="john-grishom130" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom130-380x356.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom130-760x712.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5447154471545" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tumor__1841455904511.jpg" data-image-caption="2016: "The Tumor: A Non-Legal Thriller" by John Grisham. Grisham says "The Tumor" is the most important book he has ever written. In this short book, he provides readers with a fictional account of how a real, new medical technology could revolutionize the future of medicine by curing with sound." data-image-copyright="tumor__1841455904511" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tumor__1841455904511-246x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tumor__1841455904511-492x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0982658959538" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom129.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham coaching Little League. When he's not writing, he 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." data-image-copyright="john-grishom129" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom129-346x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom129-692x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.99473684210526" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom127.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham" data-image-copyright="john-grishom127" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom127-380x378.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom127-760x756.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.93815789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom126.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham, at home in Oxford, Mississippi. (© Ann States/Saba)" data-image-copyright="john-grishom126" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom126-380x357.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom126-760x713.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0998552821997" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom125.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham, at home in Oxford, Mississippi with his wife, Renee. (© Ann States/Saba)" data-image-copyright="john-grishom125" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom125-345x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom125-691x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5353535353535" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/playing-for-pizza.jpg" data-image-caption="2007: "Playing for Pizza" is a short novel by John Grisham about an itinerant American football player who can no longer get work in the National Football League and whose agent, as a last resort, signs a deal for him to play for the Parma Panthers, in Parma, Italy." data-image-copyright="playing-for-pizza" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/playing-for-pizza-248x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/playing-for-pizza-495x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0106382978723" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom124.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham, at home in Oxford, Mississippi. (© Ann States/Saba)" data-image-copyright="john-grishom124" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom124-376x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom124-752x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.92368421052632" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham" data-image-copyright="john-grishom057" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057-380x351.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057-760x702.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.61710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057-ethel.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham" data-image-copyright="john-grishom057-ethel" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057-ethel-380x234.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/John-Grishom057-ethel-760x469.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3644524236984" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham_0.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham has more than 275 million books in print." data-image-copyright="john-grisham-photo-credit-bob-krasner-" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham_0-278x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/john-grisham_0-557x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/IMG_5932.jpg" data-image-caption="2015: John Grisham, backed by Governor Phil Bryant, Lt. Governor Tate Reeves and U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper, welcomes the crowd at the opening ceremony for the Mississippi Book Festival. (Mississippi Book Festival)" data-image-copyright="img_5932" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/IMG_5932-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/IMG_5932-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5800415800416" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/grisham-bookfest2015.jpg" data-image-caption="August 22, 2015: Bestselling author and former Mississippi lawmaker John Grisham, serving as the master of ceremonies at the opening of the Mississippi Book Festival, gestures at the wing of the Capitol, where he wrote much of his first two books while serving as a state representative, in Jackson, Mississippi. Over 160 authors with Mississippi ties are participating at the free public festival, which includes discussions about history, sports, Southern fiction and other topics. Bestselling authors Grisham, Greg Illes and Ellen Gilchrist are among some of the better known participants. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)" data-image-copyright="grisham-bookfest2015" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/grisham-bookfest2015-240x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/grisham-bookfest2015-481x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.73026315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham_John_72dpi_17193.jpg" data-image-caption="2012: 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. (Jonas Karlsson/trunkarchive.com)" data-image-copyright="grisham_john_72dpi_17193" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham_John_72dpi_17193-380x278.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Grisham_John_72dpi_17193-760x555.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65657894736842" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gettyimages-697810_master.jpg" data-image-caption="February 2, 2002: Stephen King, John Grisham, Peter Straub and Pat Conroy attend a benefit reading for actor and audiobook narrator Frank Muller at Town Hall in New York City. (Getty)" data-image-copyright="gettyimages-697810_master" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gettyimages-697810_master-380x249.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gettyimages-697810_master-760x499.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5109343936382" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/calico-joe.jpg" data-image-caption="2012: Author Grisham once dreamed of a career as a professional baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals. "Calico Joe," his first baseball novel, is about a beanball that ends the career of a promising player. The novel is inspired by the real-life story of Ray Chapman, the only professional baseball player killed by a pitch." data-image-copyright="calico-joe" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/calico-joe-252x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/calico-joe-503x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/bush.jpg" data-image-caption="May 2014: Eric Blehm, Barbara Bush, John Grisham, Maria and Neil Bush at "A Celebration of Reading," the 20th annual fundraiser benefiting the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy." data-image-copyright="xx" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/bush-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/bush-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5478615071283" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/a-time-to-kill.jpg" data-image-caption="1989: John Grisham's first novel, "A Time to Kill," is a legal suspense thriller that was adapted into a film of the same name in 1996." data-image-copyright="a-time-to-kill" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/a-time-to-kill-246x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/a-time-to-kill-491x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1382619646162.cached.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham" data-image-copyright="1382619646162-cached" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1382619646162.cached-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1382619646162.cached-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/509277460.jpg" data-image-caption="February 9, 2016: Writer John Grisham and his wife, Renee, look on during a college basketball game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Virginia Tech Hokies at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="Virginia Tech v Virginia" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/509277460-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/509277460-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2541254125413" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/169160-John-Grisham-2013-©-Daniel-Mayer-Agentur-Focus-562b67-original-1433167769.jpg" data-image-caption="2010: John Grisham in Munich, Germany." data-image-copyright="John Grisham" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/169160-John-Grisham-2013-©-Daniel-Mayer-Agentur-Focus-562b67-original-1433167769-303x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/169160-John-Grisham-2013-©-Daniel-Mayer-Agentur-Focus-562b67-original-1433167769-606x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.0066225165563" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-Grishman-John-hugging-lady-in-black-dress-on-front-porch.jpg" data-image-caption="John Grisham, at home in Oxford, Mississippi with his wife, Renee." data-image-copyright="wp-grishman-john-hugging-lady-in-black-dress-on-front-porch" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-Grishman-John-hugging-lady-in-black-dress-on-front-porch-377x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-Grishman-John-hugging-lady-in-black-dress-on-front-porch-755x760.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> 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Bush</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/susan-butcher/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Susan Butcher</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-cameron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Cameron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/benjamin-s-carson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Benjamin S. Carson, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-carter/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Carter</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-cash/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Cash</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-s-collins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/denton-a-cooley/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Denton A. Cooley, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis Ford Coppola</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-dalio/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Dalio</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/olivia-de-havilland/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Olivia de Havilland</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-e-debakey-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael S. Dell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joan-didion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joan Didion</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rita Dove</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sylvia-earle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elbaradei/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mohamed ElBaradei</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-j-ellison/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry J. Ellison</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nora-ephron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nora Ephron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/julius-erving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Julius Erving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tony-fadell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tony Fadell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/paul-farmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Farmer, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzanne-farrell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzanne Farrell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sonny-rollins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonny Rollins</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-romero/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony Romero</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-rosenquist/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Rosenquist</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pete-rozelle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pete Rozelle</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/bill-russell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bill Russell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/albie-sachs/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Albie Sachs</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/oliver-sacks-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oliver Sacks, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jonas-salk-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jonas Salk, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-sanger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick Sanger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/barry-scheck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Barry Scheck</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-evans-schultes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-h-norman-schwarzkopf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-schwarzman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen A. Schwarzman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/neil-sheehan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Neil Sheehan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ellen Johnson Sirleaf</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-slim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Slim Helú</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick W. Smith</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-sondheim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Sondheim</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sonia-sotomayor/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonia Sotomayor</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wole-soyinka/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wole Soyinka</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/esperanza-spalding/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Esperanza Spalding</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/martha-stewart/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Martha Stewart</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170606042728/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-james-b-stockdale/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral James B. 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