2. John Ernst Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in
Salinas, California.
His Parents were John Steinbeck SR. and Olive (Hamilton)
Steinbeck.
Steinbeck was born of German-American and Irish-
American descent.
During his summers he worked on nearby ranches, building
his impressions of the California countryside and its people.
3. After graduating from Salinas High School in
1919, John Steinbeck attended Stanford University.
Originally majoring in English, he pursed a program of
independent study and had sporadic attendance.
To pursue his writing career in New York, Steinbeck
permanently left Stanford in 1925.
Steinbeck returned to California because he couldn't
successfully get any of his writing published.
4. John's first novel, Cup of Gold , was published in
1929, didn't get a lot of attention.
He also had two subsequent novels, The Pastures
of Heaven and To a God Unknown, that didn't get
highly accepted by the literary community.
After marrying his first wife, Carol (Henning)
Steinbeck, in 1930 he moved to Pacific Grove where
much of the material was gathered for Tortilla Flat
and Cannery Row.
5. In 1935 Tortilla Flat marked the turning
point in Steinbeck's career.
For best novel by a California author,
Tortilla Flat received the California
Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal.
John also won the Pulitzer Prize for The
Grapes Of Wrath which was published on
1939.
John Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Literature quot;...for his realistic as well as
imaginative writings, distinguished by a
sympathetic humor and a keen social
perception.quot;
6. John published his novella , Of Mice and Men , in 1937.
In all Steinbeck wrote 25 books, including 16 novels, 6
non-fiction books , and several collections of short
stories.
The Pearl (1947) and East of Eden (1952) are some more
of his successful writings.
7. For the New York Herald
Tribune, Steinbeck was a
war correspondent during
World War 2.
The book Once There Was a
War was made from
collections of his dispatches.
8. In life, John Steinbeck was a private person that
looked own on publicity.
John Steinbeck died December 20, 1968, in New
York City of a heart attack.
He left behind his third wife and a son, Elaine
(Scott) Steinbeck and Thomas Steinbeck.
In the garden of Memories Cemetery in Salinas
is where you would find his ashes.
quot; Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of
human need for it and it has not changed except
to become more needed.quot; - Excerpt from John
Steinbeck's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
9. “John Steinbeck.” Wikipedia. May 2, 2009. Wikipedia. May
5, 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck
“John Steinbeck’s Biography.” John Steinbeck. National
Steinbeck Center. May 5,2009.
http://www.steinbeck.org/Bio.html
“Google.” Google. Google. May 5,2009.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=john+steinbeck
&aq=f&oq=
