John Steinbeck

The American Writer: John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr., was a well-known American writer (“John Steinbeck (1902-1968)”). His most famous books were Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, and East of Eden (John Steinbeck). “As the author of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non fiction books, and five collections of short stories, Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962” (“John Steinbeck (1902-1968)”). John Steinbeck was born on February 24,1902; he was the second of four children (and the only boy) born to John Steinbeck, Sr., and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck (“John Steinbeck”). The Steinbeck’s lived in comfortable middle class life in Salinas, California (“Steinbeck Center”). His mother, a formal schoolteacher, noticed that he loved to read and write (“John Steinbeck: Childhood”). During summer’s breaks, John worked on a farm and noticed the difficult living conditions of his fellow workers (“Oprah Winfrey’s Official Website”). Years later those observations and the stories he heard the men tell would form the basis of his first great book, Tortilla Flat (“John Steinbeck-Childhood”). John graduated from Salinas High School in 1919, and enrolled to Stanford University. “He studied intermittently at Stanford for six years, leaving campus frequently to take odd jobs in farms, factories or ranches,” (“John Steinbeck”). John left Stanford in 1925 never receiving a degree but always spoke fondly of Stanford. John then decided to start his journey to New York City to make his living as a writer (“John Steinbeck: Childhood”). John tried to make himself a “free-lance writer” for a couple years but failed and returned to California (“John Steinbeck – Biographical”). In 1928 he moved to San Francisco to be with his girlfriend that he married two years later (“Steinbeck, John”). John continued to write and soon came out with his first successful novel, Tortilla Flat in 1935 (Millichap,