True Grit is a 1968 novel by Charles Portis that was first published as a 1968 serial in The Saturday Evening Post.[1] The novel is told from the perspective of a woman named Mattie Ross who recounts the time when she was 14 years old and sought retribution for the murder of her father by a scoundrel named Tom Chaney. It is considered by many critics[2][3] to be "one of the great American novels".

In 1969 it was adapted for the screen as a Western film True Grit starring John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (a role that won John Wayne Best Actor at the Academy Awards) and Kim Darby as Mattie Ross. Wayne would reprise the role in Rooster Cogburn (1975) with an original screenplay. The sequel was not well-received and the plot was considered a needless reworking of the plot of True Grit.

In 2010, another film adaptation was released. Also called True Grit, it was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starred Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross and Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director(s) (The Coen Brothers), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jeff Bridges), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Hailee Steinfeld), and Best Adapted Screenplay (The Coen Brothers).

In November 2010 The Overlook Press published a movie tie-in edition of True Grit, featuring an afterword by Donna Tartt. It reached #1 on The New York Times's Bestseller List on January 30, 2011.