ReThinking: What being a lawyer taught John Grisham about writing novels

Worklife with Molly Graham

John Grisham is the author of over 50 #1 bestselling novels, including A Time To Kill and The Pelican Brief—but before he became the preeminent writer of legal thrillers, he had a tumultuous career as a lawyer. Adam and John discuss how John’s experience in the courtroom inspires his fiction, and how it has continued to shape his perspective on storytelling and criminal justice. They also dig into John’s writing process, unpack his feelings of doubt that still linger after success, and reflect on the moment that changed his mind about the death penalty.


Follow

Host: Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: adamgrant.net/)

Guest: John Grisham (Instagram: @johngrisham | Website: https://jgrisham.com/


Links

https://www.facebook.com/JohnGrisham/

https://jgrisham.com/books/


Subscribe to TED 

Instagram: @ted

YouTube: @TED

TikTok: @tedtoks

LinkedIn: @ted-conferences

Website: ted.com

Podcasts: ted.com/podcasts

For the full text transcript, visit https://www.ted.com/podcasts/worklife-transcripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More description

John Grisham is the author of over 50 #1 bestselling novels, including A Time To Kill and The Pelican Brief—but before he became the preeminent writer of legal thrillers, he had a tumultuous career as a lawyer. Adam and John discuss how John’s experience in the courtroom inspires his fiction, and how it has continued to shape his perspective on storytelling and criminal justice. They also dig into John’s writing process, unpack his feelings of doubt that still linger after success, and reflect on the moment that changed his mind about the death penalty.


Follow

Host: Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: adamgrant.net/)

Guest: John Grisham (Instagram: @johngrisham | Website: https://jgrisham.com/


Links

https://www.facebook.com/JohnGrisham/

https://jgrisham.com/books/


Subscribe to TED 

Instagram: @ted

YouTube: @TED

TikTok: @tedtoks

LinkedIn: @ted-conferences

Website: ted.com

Podcasts: ted.com/podcasts

For the full text transcript, visit https://www.ted.com/podcasts/worklife-transcripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2025-10-14 34 min
Listen elsewhere

Available Results

Generated results are saved to your library for reuse and search.

No generated results are available for this episode yet.

Transcript

No transcript is available for this episode yet.
Sign in to generate a transcript for review.
Sign in

Chapters

No chapters available.