William Faulkner

• Was born William Cuthbert Falkner [he later changed it to Faulkner to make himself seem British in order to join the Royal Air Force (RAF)]. He was born on September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi to Murry and Maud Falkner. 
• When he was about five years old, his family moved to Oxford, Mississippi. At a young age, he showed talent in drawing and poetry writing. In the sixth grade he became bored with his studies. His early literary works were romantic and were modeled after English poets like Burns, Thomson, Housman, and Swinburne. 
• He had tried to join the United States Air Force, but he was considered to be too short (he stood at five feet and six inches). After this, he tried to join the RAF by making himself seem British (even donning a British accent). Finally, he became joined the air force in Canada.
• His first published poem was "L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune" in The New Republic in August 1919. In 1924, his friend, Phil Stone, helped him get a volume of his poetry, The Marble Faun,by the Four Seas Company. By December 1924, it had sold 1,000 copies. In January 1925, he moved to New Orleans. He published a couple essays in The Double Dealer and in New Orleans Times-Picayune. 
• His first novel was Soldier's Pay (published by Liveright), which sold 2,500 copies. His second novel, Mosquitoes, was a satirical novel that was based on his literary social environment. Another novel of his was Flags in the Dust, which his old published (Liveright) refused to publish it and it was difficult to find another publisher, but he eventually did. 
• His inspiration for the title The Sound and the Fury, came from a soliloquy in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. It was published in October 1929
• Faulkner even wrote a couple of screenplays: Today We Live, Sanctuary, and The Story of Temple Drake. 
• In 1955, he won the Pulitzer Prize for A Fable. He was also awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature.
• He died on July 6, 1962 of a heart attack. However, he won another Pulitzer Prize in 1963 for The Reivers.