Literature · Film · Media · 1892–1973
Born: 26 June 1892 · Died: 6 March 1973 · Age: 80
American writer raised in China whose novel The Good Earth won the Pulitzer Prize; she later won the Nobel Prize in Literature
Did you know?The daughter of missionaries, she grew up in China and learned to speak Chinese before she mastered English.
Pearl Buck introduced millions of Western readers to ordinary life in China. Raised there by missionary parents, she wrote with insider knowledge and sympathy. The Good Earth, a story of a Chinese farming family, won the Pulitzer Prize. She became the first American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. She also campaigned for civil rights and founded an agency for children of mixed heritage who were hard to place for adoption.
Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and humanitarian. She is best known for The Good Earth, the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932, which won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1932.
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Profile
American novelist and Nobel laureate, 1892–1973
Pearl S. Buck was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, on 26 June 1892.
She grew up in China.
The Good Earth appeared in 1931.
She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938.
Career highlights
Did you know?Her childhood home in Zhenjiang, China, is now a museum.
Questions people ask
b. 1993Photo: Barbie Simons · CC BY 3.0
1908–1973Photo: Bernard Gotfryd · Public domain
1824–1907Photo: T. & R. Annan & Sons; restored by Adam Cuerden [ 1 ] · Public domain
1894–1984Photo: Unknown (Mondadori Publishers) · Public domain
b. 1968Photo: Foad Ashtari · CC BY 4.0
1730–1817Photo: Ansiaux (1729—1786) (??) · Public domain
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1918–2013Photo: Kingkongphoto & celebrity-photos.com · CC BY-SA 2.0
1961–1997Photo: John Mathew Smith & celebrity-photos.com · CC BY-SA 2.0
b. 1946Photo: Eric Draper · Public domain
1907–1954Photo: Guillermo Kahlo · Public domain
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Last reviewed: October 2026