1. Tashi Sharp
2nd period
5-1-09

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=
