Sept.10, 2002
INFORMATION: Sue Bozman or John McElwain, (661) 362-3415 or 3494

COC, Valencia Libraries Team for Steinbeck Centennial Celebration

The College of the Canyons and Valencia libraries are partners on a grant from the California Council for the Humanities that is designed to promote the John Steinbeck centennial celebration.

The two libraries, in conjunction with libraries across the state, are sponsoring book discussions, film presentations and other events relating to "The Grapes of Wrath."

Free events sponsored by Valencia Library include:

• 2-4 p.m. Sept. 29 ­ Folk singer Ross Altman presents a program called “The Ballad of Tom Joad: Woody Guthrie and the Grapes of Wrath.” The event will be held in the library’s community meeting room.
• 2-4 p.m. Oct. 6 ­ Chris Simon presents a program called “Down an Old Road: The Poetic Life of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel.” McDaniel turned the experience of Okies into literature through her poetry. This event will be held in the library’s community meeting room.
• 1:30-3 p.m. Oct. 26 ­ Members of a local reading group will lead a panel discussion of "The Grapes of Wrath" in the community meeting room.

The library has also purchased extra copies of "The Grapes of Wrath" for the public to check out if they wish to read the book before attending any of the activities.

A free event sponsored by the College of the Canyons Library is:

• 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct.5 ­ A screening of John Ford’s 1940 classic motion picture version of "The Grapes of Wrath," starring Henry Fonda. The movie will be followed by a panel discussion and question-and-answer session with several College of the Canyons faculty members. The movie will be shown in the Media & Fine Arts Building, Room M-318.

Valencia Library contact: Sherry Rodriquez (661) 259-8942.

College of the Canyons Library contact: Leslie Bretall (661) 362-3362.

About John Steinbeck

Beginning in the 1930s, John Steinbeck had created for himself a unique place in American literature and culture as a writer in touch with the political and social human drama. With the 1939 publication of The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck provided the world with its most searing and enduring images of American rural poverty, disillusionment within the promise of The American Dream, and regional and class tensions in America.

The Grapes of Wrath, along with In Dubious Battle (1936) and Of Mice and Men (1937) provided a searing look at the economic depression and natural disasters of the depression era. Through his short stories about California farmers, The Long Valley (1938), The Pastures of Heaven (1932) and his novels about California ethnic groups, Tortilla Flat (1935), and down-and-out workers, Cannery Row (1945), Steinbeck had, by the mid-1940s, become ­ and remains ­ a "household name."

Steinbeck focused on the life and plight of the common person throughout his career with poignant descriptions in The Moon is Down (1941), East of Eden (1952), and The Pearl (1947), and the viewing of "Viva Zapata! (1952)." He covered World War II, the cold War and Vietnam. He died in 1968.