William Faulkner was an American author. He is regarded as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, and was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Faulkner is known for an experimental style with meticulous attention to diction and cadence. Faulkner made frequent use of "stream of consciousness" in his writing, and wrote often highly emotional, subtle, cerebral, complex, and sometimes Gothic or grotesque stories of a wide variety of characters—ranging from former slaves or descendents of slaves, to poor white, agrarian, or working-class Southerners, to Southern aristocrats.
Most of Faulkner's works are set in his native state of Mississippi, and he is considered one of the most important "Southern writers," along with Mark Twain, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, and Tennessee Williams. While his work was published regularly from the mid 1920s to the late 1940s, he was relatively unknown before receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. Critics and the public now favor his work, and he is widely seen as among the greatest American writers of all time.
Faulkner's fame and acclaim stem from his novels, novellas, and short stories. He was, however, a published poet and an occasional screenwriter as well.
Faulkner died while at Wright's Sanitorium in Byhalia, Mississippi of a heart attack at the age of 64.