Famous People
Grisham has area roots
Successful author wrote two best-selling novels
By Donna Loyd
Sun Staff
He was born at St. Bernard's Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro. Now he holds the number one spots on both the hardback and paper back bestseller lists of the New York Times.
Who is that, you say? John Grisham.
In Blytheville Sunday afternoon for a signing of his recently released novel, "The Pelican Brief," Grisham took time to talk with everyone who stopped by. Shaking hands and talking rests his hand, he said, but visiting with the people of Northeast Arkansas also had special meaning.
In Blytheville the crowd was unusually large. "I'm kin to all of them," he said with a laugh. He signed books for more than four hours.
Grisham admitted that he felt like he was home in Northeast Arkansas, even though he hasn't lived here since he was a small child.
Grisham who is actually John Grisham Jr., attended the first grade at Black Oak Elementary School for half of the year. The family then moved to Southaven, Miss. They returned to Arkansas two years later, where he attended third and fourth grades at Monette Elementary School before his father moved to Southaven permanently.
Grisham's father is from Lake City, and his mother is from Monette. "I have some very fond childhood memories of Monette," he said.
Grisham attended college at Mississippi State University and law school at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where he now makes home.
He began writing his first book, "A Time to Kill," in 1986, after attending a trial. Writing at first was simply a hobby. Now it has become a habit, he explained.
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