William Saroyan was an American author and playwright who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940. As an Armenian American, he often wrote about the immigrant experience of Armenians in California. Some of his most famous works are The Time of Your Life, My Name Is Aram, and My Heart's in the Highlands. Saroyan's stories and plays celebrated optimism during the difficulties of the Great Depression and were frequently drawn from his own life experiences.

1. William Saroyan

2. • William Saroyan (August
31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was
an 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.

3. • An Armenian American,
Saroyan wrote extensively
about the Armenian
immigrant life in California.
Many of his stories and plays
are set in his native Fresno.
Some of his best-known works
are The Time of Your Life,
My Name Is Aram and
My Heart's in the Highlands.

4. • He is recognized as "one of the
most prominent literary
figures of the mid-20th
century." 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, Steinbe
ck and Faulkner."

5. • Saroyan's stories celebrated
optimism in the midst of the
trials and tribulations of
the Depression. Several of
Saroyan's works were drawn
from his own experiences,
although his approach to
autobiographical fact
contained a fair bit of poetic
license.

6. • Saroyan's plays were drawn from deeply
personal sources, and often disregarded the
convention that conflict is essential to
drama. My Heart's in the Highlands (1939), his
first play, was a comedy about a young boy and
his Armenian family. It was produced at the
Guild Theatre in New York.

7. • Saroyan's plays were drawn from deeply
personal sources, and often disregarded the
convention that conflict is essential to
drama. My Heart's in the Highlands (1939), his
first play, was a comedy about a young boy and
his Armenian family. It was produced at the
Guild Theatre in New York.