Pearl Sydenstricker Buck

Bio

(1892-1973) Author. Pearl Buck was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Women’s College in 1914. Pearl Buck was awarded the 1938 Nobel prize in Literature. Until 1924 she lived principally in China, where she, her parents, and her first husband, John Lossing Buck, were missionaries. She is famous for her vivid, compassionate novels about life in China. “The Good Earth” (1931; Pulitzer prize), considered her finest work, describes a Chinese peasant’s rise to wealth and brilliantly conveys a sense of the daily life of ordinary Chinese people. In 1949 she founded Welcome House, which provided care for the children of Asian women and American soldiers; the Pearl Buck Foundation of Philadelphia, to which she consigned most of her royalties, aids in the adoption of Amerasian children. During her lifetime Buck produced more than 85 books, including works for children, plays, biographies-such as those of her parents, “The Exile” (1936) and “Fighting Angel” (1936)-and many works of nonfiction, such as “China As I See It” (1970) and The Kennedy Women (1972).