ERSKINE CALDWELL - TOBACCO ROAD
December 17th. Today we celebrate the birth date of Erskine Caldwell, novelist and short story writer. He wrote about poverty, racism and social problems in his native South in novels such as Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre . His novel, Tobacco Road, was one of the most acclaimed novels of the 20th century. “ I was not a writer to begin with; I was a listener. ” __E. Caldwell from azquotes.com Photo: Author Erskine Caldwell poses with his book Tobacco Road on Jan. 28, 1953. A play of the novel stirred up a big controversy on Jan. 16, 1953, when five actors were arrested at the Vancouver’s Avon Theatre and charged with obscenity. Bill Dennett/Vancouver Sun.