John Steinbeck News

“I'm no literary giant. I'm an engineer, so I like books with facts in them”

The Olathe School Board rejected a parent's appeal Nov. 1, voting 5-2 to keep the John Steinbeck novel 'Of Mice and Men' part of the ninth-grade curriculum.

This issue came to the board's attention after Olathe parent Coni Leoni asked the district to remove the book from the curriculum. On Thursday, she told board members to fulfill their 'moral duty' by banishing what she called a worthless, profanity-riddled book.

Leoni complained that 'Of Mice and Men' -- the story of two migrant ranch workers in Depression-era California -- is derogatory toward African-Americans, women and the developmentally disabled. The book also contains references to casual sex, prostitution, booze and 'unlawful killing,' Leoni said. Read more

“The last songs he wrote before he died were a selection of songs he called 'Songs to Grow on”

The Depression-era Dust Bowl songs of Woody Guthrie were a fitting way to end the Big Read series at the Hurley Coffee Company Friday night. via Daily Globe

“Maybe it's worth thinking of the times that weren't so good, because that's when we showed what we were really made of”

The Joad family journeyed west hundreds of miles in "The Grapes of Wrath," but to see their story breathe on stage only takes an hour-and-a-half's drive to Oklahoma City. via TulsaWorld.com - Entertainment

“It's just as interesting or more so as an adult”

I've always been a guy who liked sticking his nose in a book, but what with reading two daily newspapers and a weekly magazine, lately I've been much better at buying books than at reading them. via Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

You've heard about the fund-raiser coming up Nov. 9 at the Milky Way that will help fund "The Big Read" in Giles County, but what is it? "The Big Read," the largest federal literacy initiative since the WPA, is ... via Citizen Press

On October 25th, 1962, author John Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. via KDBC

This re-release of Lewis Milestone's film, which brought John Steinbeck's classic novella to the silver screen in 1933, is set in the US in 1930's California, and stars Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr and Betty ... via The Irish World Newspaper

“If I was still a preacher I'd say the arm of the Lord had struck. But now I don't know what happened.”

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored" " The Battle Hymn of the Republic "The Grapes of Wrath" at the Camelot Theatre is ... via The Ashland Daily Tidings

“John Steinbeck is a brilliant author”

Issue date: 10/17/07 Section: Verve Originally Created: 10/16/07 at 11:58 PM CST Last Updated: 10/16/07 at 11:56 PM CST As a fifth-year senior, Rob Garness has taken on his biggest and most challenging role as ... via Volante

The University of South Dakota's Department of Theatre will present John Steinbeck's enduring Depression -era drama, Of Mice and Men, Oct. via Plain Talk

“There's so much history there”

At the 17th Annual Dustbowl Festival Saturday, visitors can hop on a shuttle at Sunset School and tour the adjacent Weedpatch Camp, which opened in the 1930s to house migrant farm workers and was featured in ... via Bakersfield Californian

"I have started to read "The Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck to coincide with it's selection as the 2007 Scranton Reads book. via The Times-Tribune

The University of South Dakota Department of Theatre season opens with John Steinbeck's depression-era drama, "Of Mice and Men," Oct. via Sioux City Journal

“An' why? Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.”

The American Dream in literature and drama most often has been a simple vision of independence and self-respect. As humble as the idea appears, its attainment seems to forever remain just beyond the grasp of ... via Sacbee.com

“They can't wipe us out. They can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa. 'Cause we're the people.”

"Plenty of work in California. Eight-hundred pickers wanted!" Good news for the Joad family, who have been evicted from their 50-year-old homestead in the barren Oklahoma dust bowl and forced to join a mass ... via Democrat & Chronicle

Degrees of isolation: Crooks and Lennie are two of Steinbeck's societal outsiders in ''Of Mice and Men." Loading... It was Woody Allen who said, famously, that ''The heart wants what it wants." It was John ... via Gazette.Net

The Big Read looks like a Huge Success in the Yakima Valley. How fitting it is that in this fast-moving, high-tech era of the Internet and iPods, the focus is on the written word and books that have endured for ... via Yakima Herald-Republic

John Steinbeck's 1930s novel "The Grapes of Wrath" was set in the aftermath of an orgy of greed. via Medford Mail Tribune

Have you read "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain or "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck? Maybe you have a personal favorite like "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee or "The Bluest Eye" by Toni ... via Lansing State Journal

The University of South Dakota Department of Theatre announces its 2007-2008 season, which will bring to the stage a couple of American classics and two important works from the British Isles. via Plain Talk Online