John Steinbeck

Born in 1902 in Salinas, California, John Steinbeck found inspiration in the fertile agricultural valley and the nearby Pacific Coast, both of which featured prominently in his fiction. He briefly attended Stanford University, leaving in 1925 without taking a degree. After various jobs in New York City, he published his debut novel, Cup of Gold, in 1929. Steinbeck gained popularity with Tortilla Flat in 1935, followed by acclaimed works like Of Mice and Men (1937) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939), which earned him the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. His versatility led him to explore various themes, including the struggles of the California laboring class. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 and the United States Medal of Freedom in 1964, Steinbeck passed away in 1968, leaving behind a legacy as one of America’s greatest writers and cultural figures.