John Steinbeck

American writer (1902-1968) · United States · Writers · Died at 66

Around the same time

Read together around East of Eden (2026 miniseries).

He gave the Dust Bowl its enduring text and turned California farmland into American myth. The Grapes of Wrath sold 14 million copies and won him a Pulitzer; the Nobel committee later praised his "sympathetic humor and keen social perception."

Writers Writer / Author Literature Screenwriting Fiction United States Americas 20th Century

A life in dates

2026

Read together around East of Eden (2026 miniseries).What this moment rests on, 2007California Hall of FameAward1968Died20 December 19681964Presidential Medal of FreedomAward1962Nobel Prize in LiteratureAward1955Bancarella Selection PrizeAward1947“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”In their wordsApril 1947Interview with Robert van Gelder (April 1947), as quoted in John Steinbeck: A Biography (1994) by Jay PariniRead the whole statement

1940Pulitzer Prize for the NovelAward1939National Book Award for FictionAward1938“In every bit of honest writing in the world ... there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other.”In their wordsJournal entry (1938), quoted in the Introduction to a 1994 edition of Of Mice and Men by Susan Shillinglaw, p. viiRead the whole statement

“For the first time I am working on a book that is not limited and that will take every bit of experience and thought and feeling that I have.”In their words11 June 1938Journal entry (11 June 1938), published in Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath, 1938-1941 (1990) edited by Robert DeMottRead the whole statement

“It is a nice thing to be working and believing in my work again. I hope I can keep the drive. I only feel whole and well when it is this way.”In their words1 June 1938Letter to Elizabeth Otis, once he had begun The Grapes of Wrath (1 June 1938)Read the whole statement

1933“Out of a thousand centuries they drew the ancient admiration of the footman for the horseman.”In their wordsThe Red Pony (1933-1937), Ch. 1: The GiftRead the whole statement

1930“We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome.”In their words"In Awe of Words," The Exonian, 75th anniversary edition, Exeter University (1930)Read the whole statement

1902Born27 February 1902

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

John Steinbeck 1939 (cropped)

JohnSteinbeck

1984 John Steinbeck Half Ounce-Gold Medal (obv)

1984 John Steinbeck Half Ounce-Gold Medal (rev)

1984 John Steinbeck Half Ounce-Gold Medal

Cannery Row, Monterey, California, USA (6)

DSC26311, Cannery Row, Monterey, California, USA (4364405712)

In their own words 10

John Steinbeck

10 statements, newest first

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
Apr 1947, Interview with Robert van Gelder (April 1947), as quoted in John Steinbeck: A Biography (1994) by Jay Parini, Own words
Boileau said that Kings, Gods and Heroes only were fit subjects for literature. The writer can only write about what he admires.
1939, Radio interview (1939) quoted in Introduction by Robert DeMott to a 1992 edition of The Grapes of Wrath, Own words
In every bit of honest writing in the world ... there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other.
1938, Journal entry (1938), quoted in the Introduction to a 1994 edition of Of Mice and Men by Susan Shillinglaw, p. vii, Own words

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Awards

California Hall of Fame2007

Presidential Medal of Freedom, Lyndon B. Johnson1964

Nobel Prize in Literature1962

Bancarella Selection Prize1955

Pulitzer Prize for the Novel1940

National Book Award for Fiction1939

King Haakon VII Freedom Cross

Family

Mother Olive Hamilton

John Steinbeck

Partners

Children

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About this person

John Ernst Steinbeck was born February 27, 1902, and spent his writing life anchored in central California, particularly the Salinas Valley and Coast Ranges. Over 33 books - 16 novels, 6 nonfiction works, 2 short story collections, one coauthored with Edward Ricketts - he explored fate and injustice through downtrodden protagonists. Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945) brought comic warmth; The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937) compressed tragedy into novella form. The Grapes of Wrath (1939), his Pulitzer-winning masterpiece, became part of the American literary canon. East of Eden followed in 1952, a multigenerational epic. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 and died December 20, 1968.

Country

United States

In common with John

Mike FaistAround the same time: East of Eden (2026 miniseries)

Martha PlimptonAround the same time: East of Eden (2026 miniseries)

Tracy LettsAround the same time: East of Eden (2026 miniseries)

Marilyn MonroeAlso in O. Henry's Full House (1952)

Alfred HitchcockAlso in Lifeboat (1944)

Marlon BrandoAlso in Viva Zapata! (1952)

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