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John Steinbeck is born in their Salinas, California home. He was the third child and the only son. His mother was a school teacher and his father was a county treasurer
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From 1919 to 1925 he graduated from Salinas High School, attended classes at Stanford University for six years and left without a degree. Afterwards he had jobs like sales clerk, ranch worker, factory worker, stuff like that.
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Moves to New York City. He worked as a construction worker while he wrote. No one wanted to publish his work, so he returned to California.
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Finally his first novel, Cup of Gold was published.
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Steinbeck marries Carol Henning. Moves to Las Angeles, then to a family home in Pacific Grove. He became great friends with Ed Ricketts who was a marine biologist, an ecologist and philosopher. He also influenced Steinbeck to write The Sea of Cortez which was later published as The Log from the Sea of Cortez.
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Steinbeck's mother dies in their Salinas home before he succeeded as an author. A short story set in Monterey County, "The Murder" wins the O. Henry Prize.
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His Father dies before Steinbeck reached fame with Tortilla Flat. After the death of both parents, he lost tie with his home town of Salinas.
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1936, Indubious Battles is published. 1937 Of Mice and Men is published as a novel and produced as a play. It becomes the second most banned book in America. 1939 The Grapes of Wrath is published.
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Steinbeck recieves the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath.
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Seperates from Carol Henning, they had no children.
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He married a singer named Gwyndolyn Conger, they had two sons Thom and John IV. He worked at The New York Herald Tribune as a war correspondent.
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Takes a tour of Russia with a photographer Frank Capa and wrote The Pearl.
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Steinbeck divorces his second wife and is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Earlier in the year he did a little research for The East of Eden.
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Steinbeck married his third wife, Elaine Anderson Scott. She was active in theatre before she met Steinbeck and remained married to him for the rest of his life until his death.
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East of Eden, a history of Salinas Valley is published and Viva Zapata! is releases as a film by director Elia Kazan.
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Accepts Nobel Prize in Stockholm.
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Becomes an honorary consultant in American Literature to the Library of Congress.
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Presented the United States Medal of Freedom by President Johnson.
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America and Americans is pulished. Became a memeber of the National Arts of Council.
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Dies of Arteriosclerosis in New York City. On March 4 of 1969 his ashes were buried in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Salinas, California.
