American novelist, essayist and playwright. Born to Armenian immigrants in Fresno, California. When he was three years old, his father died, and little William found himself in an orphanage. After five years his mother Takoohi managed to put the family back together. Saroyan began to publish (mainly) short stories in the 30s. He was often inspired by his childhood and reflecting the feelings of immigrants. He managed to combine allegorical intersections with a realistic view of the world into his typically unique style. In 1940 he refused to receive the Pulitzer Prize in protest against the commercialization of literature. He married twice with the same woman, an actress Carol Marcus, they had two children together, but they divorced twice, too. He lived alternately in Paris and his native Fresno, where he died at the age of 72 years, from cancer. Half of his ashes are buried in California, half in Armenia.