John Steinbeck
Lifetime (life and death)
Born February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California
Served as a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune during WWII
Travelled to Mexico with friend who’s a marine biologist, resulting in book Sea of Cortez (1941)
Married 3 times
Two sons with second wife Gwyndolyn Conger
Died of heart disease on December 20, 1968, in his home in New York City
27 years-old during The Great Depression

Childhood
Grew up with three sisters
Was a happy but shy child
Decided to become a writer at 14
Father was John Ernst Steinbeck – owned a feed-and-grain store, managed a flour plant and served as treasurer of Monterey Country His mother was Olive Hamilton Steinbeck – was a former schoolteacher
Would lock himself in his room to write stories and poems

Adulthood – writing career
Moved to New York to try becoming a freelance writer, found work as a construction worker and newspaper reporter
First novel: Cup of Gold (1929)
In 1962 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature – “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception”
The Grapes of Wrath sold 10,000 copies per week, earning him a Pulitzer Prize in 1940
In 1919 he was enrolled at Stanford University, leading to him dropping out in 1925 without a degree

Famous Works
Cup of Gold (1929)
The Pastures of Heaven (1932)
To A God Unknown (1933)
Tortilla Flat (1935)
In Dubious Battle (1936)
Of Mice and Men (1937)
The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
Sea of Cortez (1941)
Cannery Row (1945)
Burning Bright (1950)
East of Eden (1952)
Sweet Thursday (1954)
The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication (1957)
Once There Was A War (1958)
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962)
America and Americans (1966)
Viva Zapata! (1975)
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)
Working Days: The Journals of ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ (1989)

Great Writers: John Steinbeck – Documentary
Note taking
1. The coast he grew up on is what he always thought of to ‘be a breeder of stories’
2. Grew up and lived in Salinas, situated between mountains and the sea
3. His mother was tyrant and obsessed with success
4. He envied the lives of cowboys as a child
5. He would hide himself in his attic to read
6. Enrolled at Stanford University at 17 where he played sports and wrote furiously, escaping as soon as he could
7. His mother was disappointed in him for wanting to be a writer and not something better suited to her expectations such as a lawyer
8. He was an agricultural worker for pocket money
9. Wrote his first short stories in his university years
10. Commented university was an unforgettable environment
11. After leaving Stanford he lived in New York, which led to being a cruel disappointment working 18 hours a day and having no one interested in his stories
12. Moved to San Francisco at 26
13. He was stubborn and only wanted to be a writer or nothing
14. Needed his parents support to be a writer
15. Steinbeck used current situations happening in his life as inspiration to write