John Steinbeck Facts

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Home > Facts > Authors Facts > John Steinbeck Facts John Steinbeck Facts

John Steinbeck Facts John Steinbeck was an American author best known for his novella Of Mice and Men, and his novel The Grapes of Wrath that won him a Pulitzer Prize. He was born John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. on February 27th, 1902 in Salinas, California to John Ernst Steinbeck a county treasurer, and Olive Hamilton, a school teacher. John was raised in a modest home, with three sisters. He decided to become a writer when he was 14 years old, and began writing stories and poems in his bedroom. He enrolled at Stanford University in 1919, but dropped out in 1925. He wanted to become a writer and had no passion for school.

Interesting John Steinbeck Facts:
John Steinbeck moved to New York City briefly where he worked as a construction worker and reporter for a newspaper but returned to California.
John Steinbeck worked as a caretaker in Lake Tahoe and used his spare time to write his first novel titled Cup of Gold, which was published in 1929.
John Steinbeck met Carol Henning around the same time as he wrote his first novel and they married.
John Steinbeck went on to write The Pastures of Heaven (1932), The Red Pony (1933) and To a God Unknown (1933). The reviews were mediocre.
John Steinbeck's success as a writer came when his novel Tortilla Flat was published in 1935.
John Steinbeck's next novels included In Dubious Battle (1936), Of Mice and Men (1937), and a collection of short stories titled The Long Valley (1938).
John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939. This novel is believed to be his greatest work. The novel tells about a family from Oklahoma that tries to start their lives over in California during The Great Depression.
John Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 for his book The Grapes of Wrath.
The Grapes of Wrath was so popular, partly because it struck a chord with Americans at the time, that it sold 10,000 copies a week at its peak sales.
John Steinbeck covered World War II as a correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune.
John Steinbeck collaborated with a marine biologist in Mexico and subsequently wrote the book Sea of Cortez which was published in 1941.
In 1942 John Steinbeck's The Moon is Down was published, followed by Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team in 1942.
In 1945 John Steinbeck's book Cannery Row was published, followed by The Wayward Bus (1947), The Pearl (1947), A Russian Journal (1948), Burning Bright in 1950, The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951), East of Eden in 1952, Sweet Thursday in 1954, The Short Reign of Pippin IV in 1957, Once There Was a War in 1958, The Winter of Our Discontent in 1961, and Travels with Charley: In Search of America in 1962.
Several of John Steinbeck's works were adapted into movies including Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, The Forgotten Village, The Moon is Down, and East of Eden.
John Steinbeck died on December 20th, 1968 at the age of 66 in New York City.

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John Steinbeck Facts

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