- Scott Turow
:"For Polish place names, see
Turów ."Scott Turow (born
April 12 ,1949 ) is an Americanauthor as well as a practicinglawyer . Turow has written eight fiction and two nonfiction books, which have been translated into over 20language s and have sold over 25 million copies. Movies have been based on several of his books.Biography
Turow was born in
Chicago , attendedNew Trier High School , and graduated fromAmherst College in 1970. He received an Edith Mirrielees Fellowship to theStanford University Creative Writing Center, where he attended from 1970 to 1972. In 1971, he married Annette Turow, a painter.Turow later became a lecturer at Stanford, serving until 1975, when he entered
Harvard Law School . In 1977, Turow wrote "One L ", a book about his first year at law school. After earning hisJuris Doctor (J.D. ) degree in 1978, Turow became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago, serving in that position until 1986. There he prosecuted several high-profile corruption cases, including the tax fraud case of state Attorney General William Scott. Turow also was lead counsel inOperation Greylord , the federal prosecution of Illinois judicial corruption cases.After leaving the
U.S. Attorney 's office, Turow became anovelist , writing his famous legal thrillers, including "The Burden of Proof ", "Presumed Innocent ", "Pleading Guilty ", and "Personal Injuries ", whichTime Magazine named as the Best Fiction Novel of 1999. All four became bestsellers, and Turow won multiple literary awards, most notably the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers. All of his novels take place inKindle County , and many of the characters appear in multiple books. In 1990, Turow was featured on theJune 11 cover of "Time" magazine, which described him as the "Bard of the Litigious Age." In 1995, Canadian authorDerek Lundy published a biography of Turow, entitled "Scott Turow: Meeting the Enemy" (ECW Press, 1995).Turow was the president of the
Authors Guild from 1997 to 1998 and continues to serve on its board. During the same two-year period, Turow was a member of the U.S. Senate Nominations Commission for the Northern District of Illinois, which recommends federal judicial appointments.Turow is a partner of the Chicago law firm of
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal . Turow workspro bono in most of his cases, including a 1995 case where he won the release of Alejandro Hernandez, who had spent 11 years ondeath row for a murder he did not commit. He was also appointed to the commission considering the reform of the Illinois death penalty by former GovernorGeorge Ryan and is currently a member of the Illinois State Police Merit Board. He and his wife Annette divorced in late 2008 with three grown children.Books
Novels
* "
Presumed Innocent ", 1987
* "The Burden of Proof ", 1990
* "Pleading Guilty ", 1993
* "The Laws of Our Fathers ", 1996
* "Personal Injuries ", 1999
* "Reversible Errors ", 2002
* "Ordinary Heroes", 2005
* "Limitations ", 2006Non-fiction
* "
One L ", 1977
* "", 2003Films
* "Presumed Innocent", 1990
* "The Burden of Proof", 1992
* "Reversible Errors", 2004ee also
*
Kindle County
*List of bestselling novels in the United States External links
* [http://www.scottturow.com Official website]
*.
* [http://wiredforbooks.org/scottturow/ 1990 audio interview] byDon Swaim
* [http://www.researchchannel.org/prog/displayevent.aspx?rID=2060&fID=345 A reading from "The Laws of Our Fathers" by Scott Turow]
* [http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/events/2006-05-10-scottTurow.jsp Interview] on "Ordinary Heroes" at thePritzker Military Library
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