William Saroyan

Lavishly illustrated with beautiful, evocative watercolors, this record visits dozens of locations influential to the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan, best known for his play "The Time of Your Life". Accompanied by well-documented biographical research, this series of paintings highlights places critical to Saroyan's life, such as his family's ancestral home of Bitlis, Armenia; the Fred Finch Orphanage in Oakland, where he spent five years of his early childhood; and the MGM Studios in Los Angeles, where he enjoyed a short and tumultuous career as a screenwriter. The majority of this collection, however, explores the beloved vistas of Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley from which he drew his inspiration -- from the Armenian churches of Fresno to the sprawling vineyards of the surrounding California landscape.