William Saroyan (pronounced /səˈrɔɪən/; 31 August 1908 - 18 May 1981) was an Armenian-American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian-American life in California in his native Fresno.
Saroyan was born in Fresno, California to Armenian immigrants from Bitlis in Turkey. At the age of three, after his father's death, Saroyan was placed in the orphanage in Oakland, California, together with his br...
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William Saroyan (pronounced /səˈrɔɪən/; 31 August 1908 - 18 May 1981) was an Armenian-American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian-American life in California in his native Fresno.
Saroyan was born in Fresno, California to Armenian immigrants from Bitlis in Turkey. At the age of three, after his father's death, Saroyan was placed in the orphanage in Oakland, California, together with his brother and sister, an experience he later described in his writing. Five years later, the family reunited in Fresno, where his mother, Takoohi, secured work at a cannery. He continued his education on his own, supporting himself by taking odd jobs, such as working as an office manager for the San Francisco Telegraph Company.
Saroyan decided to become a writer after his mother showed him some of his father's writings. A few of his early short articles were published in Overland Monthly. His first stories appeared in the 1930s. Among these was ...
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