Steinbeck Today

The year 2015 is shaping up to be an exciting year of change and new directions for Steinbeck studies. The Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, in collaboration with the newly renamed International Society of Steinbeck Scholars, is planning an international conference to be held at San Jose State University in May of 2016. The International Society of Steinbeck Scholars, formerly known as the John Steinbeck Scholars of America, adopted the new name to better reflect the international membership of the society. Likewise, the 2016 conference theme, “John Steinbeck as an International Writer,” highlights Steinbeck’s global influence among scholars and fans as well as the connections between his works and global literature and thought. Presentations on a wide variety of subjects are encouraged. Submissions can be made on the Center for Steinbeck Studies website at http://www.sjsu.edu/steinbeck.

Visitors to the Center for Steinbeck Studies’ website will also find a new look with a streamlined homepage spotlighting recent news and events. The homepage also links visitors to the Steinbeck in the Schools program, www.steinbeckintheschools.org, which seeks to promote literacy and learning through the works of Steinbeck. Since the site launched in 2013, the Steinbeck in the Schools program has been working to expand its offerings of free, adaptable online curriculum for many of Steinbeck’s major works. Developed at San Jose State University for use in K-12 classrooms, this curriculum includes many lesson plans that are aligned to the Common Core standards. The site also provides links to enrichment materials that explain the historical, political, and geographical context of Steinbeck’s works. Last fall, fifty K-12 teachers from across the country peer reviewed a selection of lessons from the Of Mice and Men curriculum. The results were quite positive and resulted in many valuable suggestions for improvement. The Steinbeck in the Schools program plans to continue developing its offerings and to increase its outreach efforts this spring. This program’s goals are closely aligned with the efforts of the International Society of Steinbeck’s Scholars effort to promote additional interest in and study of Steinbeck’s works at all levels of education in the United States in 2015.

The Center for Steinbeck Studies site also links visitors to SteinbeckNow.com, a Steinbeck-focused website launched in 2013 by independent scholar and Steinbeck enthusiast, William Ray. SteinbeckNow.com publishes blog posts and critical and creative works inspired by Steinbeck’s life and writings. On this site, fans can listen to and read numerous interesting posts ranging from musical recordings and creative works performed by their original artists to intriguing explorations of Steinbeck’s purported affiliation with the CIA and his connections to Scottish labor rights.

Ray says his interest in Steinbeck blossomed when he began playing the organ at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Salinas, California, where Steinbeck attended church in his youth. While conducting research on Steinbeck’s activities at St. Paul’s, Ray reports talking to many locals to gauge their interest in Steinbeck:

Along the way I asked several friends [. . .] here in the Bay Area if they read Steinbeck and was gratified to get a 100 percent positive response. Their occupations, religious affiliations, and political views vary widely, but all of them said that they love Steinbeck’s writing and felt engaged by his social vision, his colorful characters, and his California connection. It occurred to me that regular people like these—readers turned on by Steinbeck’s ideas and stories—deserved a friendly forum for sharing their thoughts about his continuing relevance to their lives and work.

Thus, SteinbeckNow.com was born of Ray’s vision to provide fans a space to discuss Steinbeck and share ideas and creative expression reflective of Steinbeck’s own artistic spirit. So far, the site has proven very successful. In little over a year, SteinbeckNow.com has published 150 posts from various authors with a wide variety of perspectives, interests, and cultural backgrounds.

One of the primary advantages of the site is what Ray terms “instant gratification” for contributors, as reflected in the website’s title itself, which refers not only to the timely...