Pearl S. Buck

Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck was an American writer who spent much of her early life in China as the daughter of missionaries.

Her experiences there greatly influenced her writing, particularly her most famous novel, The Good Earth, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932.

Buck became the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938 for her depictions of Chinese peasant life.

After returning to the United States in 1935, she continued writing prolifically and became an activist for women's rights, racial equality, and Asian adoption.

Buck's unique perspective as both an insider and outsider in Chinese culture shaped her literary contributions and social advocacy.