Robert Warren was born in Gurthrie Kentucky. After completing high school in Clarksville Tennessee, he went to Vanderbilt Univeristy for undergraduate studies. He recieved a Master from University of California Berkely.

He was a Triple Pulitzer Prize winner and Rhodes Scholar Robert Penn Warren was selected as the United States' first poet laureate (1986-88). He was also a gifted teacher, novelist, and critic. All the King's Men (1946) is perhaps his most famous work. It tells the story of a Southern politician corrupted by power.

His works were often set in the South, focusing on themes of Southern history. He received the National Medal for Literature in 1970 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.