John Steinbeck's Biography

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902. His father worked as Monterey County treasurer and his mother was a school teacher. He spent his summers as a child working on nearby ranches. In 1919, Steinbeck graduated high school and attended Stanford University but never graduated. In 1925, he moved to New York to try his hand at writing but returned to California a few years later after no success. Upon Steinbeck's return to California, he worked odd jobs for many years. He married his first wife, Carol Henning, in 1930. In 1942, after he and Carol divorced, he married Gwyn Conger and had two children, Thomas and John. In 1943, Steinbeck served as a World War II correspondant. After publishing many successful literary pieces, John Steinbeck died on December 20, 1968 of heart disease and congestive heart failure.