John Steinbeck In 1958 the street that Steinbeck described as "Cannery Row" in the novel, once named "Ocean View Avenue", was renamed "Cannery Row" in honor of the novel. The town of Monterey has commemorated Steinbeck's work with an avenue of flags depicting characters from "Cannery Row", historical plaques, and sculptured busts depicting Steinbeck and Ricketts. On February 27, 1979 (the 77th anniversary of the writer's birth), the United States Postal Service issued a stamp featuring Steinbeck, starting the Postal Service's Literary Arts series honoring American writers. On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Steinbeck
John Steinbeck novel, and the critical outcry when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, Steinbeck published no more fiction in the next six years before his death. In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his "realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception." The selection was heavily criticized, and described as "one of the Academy's biggest mistakes" in one Swedish newspaper. The reaction of American literary critics was also harsh. The "New York Times" asked why the Nobel committee gave the award to an author whose "limited talent is,