Steinbeck

Steinbeck is a surname of German origin. It is most commonly associated with John Steinbeck, an American writer and Nobel laureate whose work significantly shaped 20th-century American literature.

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was born in Salinas, California. He studied at Stanford University but did not graduate. Steinbeck published his first novels in the 1930s and gained prominence with works set in California’s Central Valley and coastal regions, exploring social injustice and human resilience. Major novels include Tortilla Flat (1935), Of Mice and Men (1937), and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). The latter, a portrayal of Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and remains one of his best-known works. East of Eden (1952) is a sprawling family saga set in the Salinas Valley, while The Pearl (1947) is a novella about a pearl diver’s moral catastrophe. He also co-authored The Sea of Cortez (1941), a travel and natural history book with Ed Ricketts.

Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 for his realistic and imaginative writings, which combine social concern with compassionate storytelling. His work often centers on labor, poverty, and the plight of marginalized communities, using vivid landscapes to illuminate human experience. Steinbeck's novels have been widely read, studied, and adapted for film and stage, securing his place in the canon of American literature.