William Saroyan was an Armenian American writer who wrote in English. His stories and plays find humour, vulnerability and dignity in people often overlooked by society.
Born in Fresno to Armenian immigrants, he spent part of his childhood in an Oakland orphanage after his father's death. Fresno and its Armenian community remained central to his imaginative world.
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze brought recognition in 1934. My Name Is Aram draws on childhood and community, while The Human Comedy follows a young messenger during wartime. His play The Time of Your Life received a Pulitzer Prize, which he declined.
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