Artists retrace Joads’ trip on Route 66 in “Grapes of Wrath”

John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” is marking its 75th anniversary next year. To mark the occasion, three artists associated with the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, Calif., are traveling on the real-life Route 66, starting today in Oklahoma, to trace the Joad family’s trek in the book.

According to the Monterey County Herald:

The National Steinbeck Center in Salinas hopes the journey will spark a discussion about the ways communities are dealing with financial and environmental crises, with an eye toward the resilience of the American spirit. They’re excited to salute Steinbeck’s 1930s fictional narrative of the Joad family’s passage from drought-ridden Oklahoma to a hopeful future in California.

“We want to collect oral histories and listen to people along the way so that we can understand the challenges they are facing and learn about what is inspiring and helping them through,” says Colleen Bailey, executive director of the National Steinbeck Center. […]

They will begin their 10-day expedition in Oklahoma City on Friday and end in Weedpatch Camp in Arvin. Aside from slight detours caused by realignments of Route 66, they will follow the same path that inspired, and ultimately became, the Joad family’s roadmap in “The Grapes of Wrath,” traveling through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. […]

The team will be blogging firsthand accounts of their experiences and the people they meet along the way, which they hope will inspire future creative work. The artists will broadcast these works through social media and eventually showcase them at the center’s 75th anniversary celebration May 2-4 at the National Steinbeck Center. The center is encouraging public participation through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

The trio is playwright Octavio Solis, writer and artist Patricia Wakida, and filmmaker P.J. Palmer. Here’s a video about the trip:

Capital Public Radio at California State University also posted this report.

“The Grapes of Wrath,” in addition to becoming a best-selling book, was adapted into a John Ford film that’s regarded one of the best. This is a New York Times overview of the movie:

(Cover image of a 1945 edition of “The Grapes of Wrath” by Make It Old via Flickr)

One thought on “Artists retrace Joads’ trip on Route 66 in “Grapes of Wrath”

  1. I recently drove the western half of 66 from Ok to Santa Monica. On the way I ordered the book, Grapes or ‘Wrath’. I had never read it. A great novel. Makes me reject today’s snow flakes more than ever.

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