Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Sinclair Lewis won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for his novel Arrowsmith in 1926, but he refused the award. The dude either hated the idea of artistic competition, or he was just mad that he hadn't won the award for his earlier novels Main Street or Babbitt. (Source.)
Check out The Modern Library's list of the Top 100 Novels ever, and you'll find Sinclair Lewis's Main Street hanging out at #68. Take that, The House of Mirth. (Source.)
Sinclair Lewis had written five novels and many short stories by the time he'd finished Main Street. But his efforts would eventually pay off, as Main Street would become a sensation and sell 250,000 copies in its first year—an insane amount of sales for 1920. (Source.)