The document provides background information on the American author John Steinbeck, noting that he was born in 1902 in Salinas, California, and worked various jobs including as a reporter and ranch worker before finding success as a writer. It mentions that one of his most famous works was The Grapes of Wrath, which depicts the Great Depression era migration of thousands of Okies from the Dust Bowl region of the U.S. to California, and for which Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize.