John Grisham is an American writer and former attorney and politician, best known for his popular legal thrillers. Grisham's first novel, A Time to Kill, was written and published in 1989 while he served in the House of Representatives in Mississippi. Many of his books have been adapted into films and television shows, including his first best seller, The Firm. Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.