John Steinbeck with "Tortilla Flat" (1935), a novel set in post-war Monterey, California, that won the California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal. It portrays the adventures of a group of classless and usually homeless young men in Monterey after World War I, just before U.S. prohibition. They are portrayed in ironic comparison to mythic knights on a quest and reject nearly all the standard mores of American society in enjoyment of a dissolute life devoted to wine, lust, camaraderie and petty theft. In presenting the 1962 Nobel Prize to Steinbeck, the Swedish Academy cited "spicy and comic tales about a gang of "paisanos",
John Steinbeck Award are given no real voice in the halls of justice, or the halls of government. By doing so these people will naturally become the enemies of the political status quo." 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 to artists who capture "the spirit of Steinbeck's empathy, commitment to democratic values, and belief in the dignity of the common man." The award is presented each year by Steinbecks' eldest son, Thomas, in