Grisham completed his BS degree in Accounting from the Mississippi State University. He then joined the University of Mississippi School of Law, from where he graduated with a JD degree in 1983. The author practised law for almost ten years, and then won an election. He has won the Galaxy British Book Award, and the 2005 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. His books have been translated into nearly thirty languages, and they have sold more than 250 million copies around the globe.