John Steinbeck (1902 - 1968)

John Steinbeck attended Stanford University but dropped out to pursue his real interest in writing. He held jobs as a sales clerk, farm laborer, ranch hand, and factory worker. In the 1930s, he began to write the stories and novels for which he is most remembered.

During his career he received the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath, the United States Medal of Freedom, and was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for literature, "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception." His works include: Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, and Tortilla Flat.