William Saroyan

Who was William Saroyan?

William Saroyan was an Armenian-American dramatist and author. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film adaptation of his novel The Human Comedy. The setting of many of his stories and plays is his native Fresno, the center of Armenian immigrant life in California. Some of his best-known works are The Time of Your Life, My Name Is Aram and My Heart's in the Highlands.

Stephen Fry describes Saroyan as "one of the most underrated writers of the [20th] century." Fry suggests that "he takes his place naturally alongside Hemingway, Steinbeck and Faulkner."