William Saroyan
(1908–1981)

Growing up in an Armenian immigrant community in the San Joaquin Valley of California, William Saroyan spent many hours in his local library, exploring the treasures in books. Throughout his writing career, Saroyan fictionalized the people in his Armenian family. Because he thought they were typical of most human beings, he used them as characters to help convey his ideas about people and life. In 1940, Saroyan won a Pulitzer Prize for drama for The Time of Your Life–although he declined to receive it. He did not believe in awards and prizes for art.

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