Pearl Buck (1892-1973)

Awarded the Prize “for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical pieces.”

American author. Pearl Buck was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia on June 26, 1892. She grew up in China, and returned to America to have her education at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. In 1914, she came back and lived in China until 1934, with the exception of one year at Cornell University, where she gained her M.A. in 1926. She began to write in the twenties. She set up an agency for the adoption of Asian-American children (Welcome House, Inc.) and took an active interest in retarded children. Buck died in Danby, Vermont on March 6, 1973.
Major Works:
East Wind, West Wind (1930); The Good Earth (1931); Sons (1932); The First Wife and Other Stories (1933); A House Divided (1935); The Mother (1934); The Exile and Fighting Angel (1936); This Proud Heart