Which American author wrote 'The Grapes of Wrath' and won the 1962 Nobel Prize?

The American author who wrote The Grapes of Wrath and won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature was John Steinbeck. Born in Salinas, California, in 1902, Steinbeck drew heavily on the landscapes, labor struggles, and social inequalities of the American West.

The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, follows the Joad family as economic hardship and environmental disaster drive them from Oklahoma toward California. Its depiction of displaced farmers, migrant labor, exploitation, and family resilience made it one of the defining American novels of the Great Depression.

Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” He had already won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1940 for The Grapes of Wrath. Other major works include Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, and Cannery Row.

William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway also won Nobel Prizes, but in different years: Faulkner in 1949 and Hemingway in 1954. Mark Twain never received the award.