Sinclair LewisHarry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story author and playwright renowned for becoming the first American awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1930. He was remembered "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his abilit to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters." His works are well-known for their exhaustive and critical views of American society and capitalist values, as well as their strong characterizations of modern working women. Sinclair Lewis was born on 7 February 1885 in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. His parents were Edwin and Emma Lewis, and he had two older brothers, Fred and Claude. Lewis started reading books at a young age and kept a diary. Growing up, Lewis went to public schools and visited Yale University for college. He graduated in 1908, after taking a break in 1906. Lewis had some fascinating jobs after he graduated from college and they all associated with writing or editing in some way. In Iowa and San Francisco, he worked as a newspaper journalist. He later performed at a publishing house in New York. His two marriages ended in divorce, and he drank extremely. He expired of the effects of advanced alcoholism in Rome, Italy on 10 January 1951. He is best known for his novels Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, Dodsworth, and It Can't Happen Here. Read More Read Less