John Steinbeck dropped out of Stanford to write his first novel “Cup of Gold” – a swashbuckling Caribbean pirate romance which he completed at Tahoe’s Cascade Lake just prior to taking a job at the state Fish Hatchery just east of Tahoe City.

There he met and wooed his first wife, terrorized visiting females, bragged of his sexual exploits, shot holes in the ceiling with a revolver, and got himself fired — never to return to Tahoe for the remainder of his long career.

Yet Tahoe is just as much “Steinbeck Country” as Salinas or Monterey because this was the place Steinbeck first struggled to learn and master the lonely craft of writing.

Author Scott Lankford will present a public lecture titled Steinbeck at Tahoe: Hatching his First Novel on May 31 from 7-8pm at the UC Davis Tahoe City Field Station (also known as the Historic Fish Hatchery) at 2400 Lake Forest Road, Tahoe City.