“I learned to write nice as hell. Birds an' stuff like that, too; not just word writin'. My ol' man'll be sore when he sees me whip out a bird in one stroke. Pa's gonna be mad when he sees me do that. He don't like no fancy stuff like that. He don't even like word writin'. Kinda scare 'im, I guess. Ever' time Pa seen writin', somebody took somepin away from 'im.”

American writer and novelist

John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer and novelist. He lived in the 20th century and won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is known for his fiction and for writing that brought him wide and lasting readership. He was also an independent journalist and a war correspondent during World War II and the Vietnam War. His work was recognized by the Nobel committee for its realistic and imaginative style, with sympathy and social insight at its center.