John Steinbeck Award

The John Steinbeck Award 'In The Souls of the People' is an annual award given to an individual that has contributed to society in the spirit of John Steinbeck. The award is given each year by Thomas Steinbeck and his foundation, The John Steinbeck Family Foundation, San Jose State University, and The National Steinbeck Center.

That phrase from Chapter 25 of The Grapes of Wrath captures the writer's enduring legacy as an engaged artist. From the 1930s on he wrote about "the people," his heart open to the longing, loneliness, despair and triumph of those on the edges. Americans were his people, and his last book, America and Americans (1966) expresses his enduring love for a democratic nation:

Past recipients are:

Bruce Springsteen, 1996 October 26John Sayles, 1998 February 14Arthur Miller, 1999 April 22Jackson Browne, 2002 February 26Studs Terkel, 2002 October 02Joan Baez, 2003 February 26Sean Penn, 2004 September 10Garrison Keillor, 2007 September 25

External links

* http://www.steinbeck.sjsu.edu/awards/index.jsp
* http://www.steinbeck.org