Bio

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, in 1902. His birthplace is a major influence in many of his works, notably East of Eden. He came from a middle-class family. His parents were John Steinbeck and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck (If you’ve read East of Eden, do these names sound familiar?). John was the Monterrey county treasurer, and Olive was a teacher. Salinas was a very small town. He went to school there and spent his summers working on the surrounding ranches. He went to Stanford in 1919 and left five years later without a degree. In 1925, he went to New York and worked as a freelance writer. In 1928, after being unable to get his work published, he moved to San Francisco, where he published some shorter works. He married Carol Henning in 1930. He became well-known only after he published his fifth novel, Tortilla Flat, which is a collection of stories about the kinds of people he might have worked with on the ranches in summer. After Tortilla Flat, he moved on to more serious fiction like The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. Besides writing numerous successful novels, Steinbeck had an interesting life. He was a World War II correspondent and was wounded in 1944. He also traveled extensively around the Soviet Union. He died in New York City of heart disease and congestive heart failure. (Sources: Wikipedia and Nobelprize.org)

Links

The National Steinbeck Center - Located in Salinas, CA, a museum dedicated to Steinbeck’s life and works.

The Center for Steinbeck Studies - The only university research archive in the world dedicated solely to John Steinbeck’s life and work. Here, you can find lots of general information on Steinbeck, along with lesson plans and a bibliography search.

Nobelprize.org’s Steinbeck entry - Read about Steinbeck and watch his 1962 Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

Steinbeck quotes - Many quotable lines can be extracted from Steinbeck’s novels and stories. Here are some good ones.

Library Resources

Shreve Memorial Library has a wealth of books written by John Steinbeck. Here are a few that stand out:

The Grapes of Wrath - Traces the migration of an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family to California and their subsequent hardships as migrant farm workers.

East of Eden - Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families -- the Trasks and the Hamiltons -- whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

Of Mice and Men - Tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant workers during the Great Depression in California.

Travels with Charley - A travelogue that recounts tales of a 1960 road trip with Steinbeck's standard French Poodle, Charley, around the United States.

Here's the full list.

Some titles are also available on OverDrive. Just search for Steinbeck!

If you want to delve more deeply into Steinbeck's work, check out our library databases for essays and articles. The Scribner Writer's Series and Twayne's Author Series are good places to start.

Who:           Designed for children ages 10 & under (parents are welcome)

Where:         Atkins Library

When:         10am-11am, Saturdays (June 2, 9, 16, 23)

Hosted by:    the Fair Park High School French Club

Register by:  May 28^th, 2012 at Atkins Library

Sponsored

by: ALCFES (Louisiana association of secondary education French clubs) &

CODOFIL (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana)

If you are interested in learning more about how the artists of the People, Places and Composites exhibit created their images, or if you are interested in photography, you do not want to miss out on the Creative Design Workshops available at various locations of ShreveMemorial Library.

Workshop presenter: Armand Johnson, Graphic Design Artist/Photographer

6-week Workshop Date: Wednesdays, June 13, 20, 27, 2012

Wednesdays, July 11, 18, 25, 2012

Time: 5pm at Atkins Branch Library

3704 Greenwood Road

Workshop Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Time: 4:30-6:00 pm

Broadmoor Branch Library

1212 Captain Shreve Dr.

Workshop Date: Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Time: 3:00 pm

Hamilton/South Caddo Branch Library

2111 Bert Kouns Industrial Loop

Workshop Date: Saturday, June 30, 2012

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Time: 11 am-1pm

Hollywood/Union Branch Library

2105 Hollywood Ave

To attend workshops, registration is required. Be sure to specify which workshop you would like to attend.

The workshops are FREE and open to the public, but space is limited!!

   Mondays at 5pm (starts June 4th)

   Thursdays at 10am (starts June 7th)

   4844 North Market
   For more information, call Virginia Walker at 674-8172