Who wrote The Grapes of Wrath, winner of the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel?

John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath, which won the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel.

Published in 1939, the novel follows the Joad family as drought, foreclosure, mechanized agriculture, and unemployment force them from Oklahoma toward California. Their journey reflects the broader displacement of Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression, while the book examines poverty, labor exploitation, family solidarity, and the search for dignity.

The award year can be confusing because Pulitzer prizes generally honor books published during the preceding calendar year: The Grapes of Wrath appeared in 1939 but received the 1940 prize. The category was still officially called the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel; it was renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1947.

The novel was controversial because of its political and social criticism, and some communities attempted to ban or burn it. It was adapted into a 1940 film directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda. Steinbeck later received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.