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The biography of John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, on February 27, 1902. His father, John Steinbeck, Sr. served as the Country Treasuere whle his mother, olive (Hamilton) Steinbeck, a former school teacher, encouraged Steinbeck's love for reading and the written word. Steinbecks involvement with the country side began when he worked as a hired hand on nearby ranches during the summer. After graduating from Salinas High School in 1919, Steinbeck sporadically attended Standford University as an independent study English major. During this time he worked periodically at various jobs before leaving Standford permanently in 1925 to persue his writing career in New York City. After an unsccessful attempt in getting any of his works published, Steinbeck returned to California to publish is first book four years after. His somewhat unsuccessful novel Cup of Gold, was published in 1929. His two subsequent novels, The Pastures of Heaven and To a God Unkown, were also poorly recieved by the literary world. One year after Steinbeck published three novels, he married his first wife, Carol Henning, in 1930. Both Carol and John Steinbeck lived in Pacific Grove while much of the material for Torilla Flat (1935) and Cannary Row was gathered. Unlike Steinbeck's previous novels, Tortilla Flat was very accepted in the literary community and was awarded The Commonwealth club's Gold Medal for best novel for a California author. Steinbeck's continuation of his method of observation eventually led to the writing of his Pulitzer prize winning novel The Grapes of Wrath(1939). Steinbeck's travels in the United States to recreate the journey's led and shown as characters in his novels did not just stop in California. Little is said about Steinbeck's travels to Mexico to write his novels The Pearl, Zapata, and many more. Prior to traveling to Mexico, Steinbeck extended his travels overseas as he traveled as a war correspondent during World War II, for the New York Harald. Like many of his experiences, Steinbeck's war dispatches writing were published as Once There Was a War. Throughout Steinbeck's life, he remained to be a private person. Six years prior to his death in 1968, Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in New York City and is survived by his third wife, Elaine (Scott) Steinbeck and one son, Thomas. His remains are currently buried in the Garden of Memories cemetary in Salinas California. This was adapted from the biography found at Steinbeck.org
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