The award honors the Saroyan literary legacy. What is the Saroyan legacy or style?
Saroyan’s literary style is characterized by originality, stylistic innovation and what is often described as an “exuberant humanism”. It is this exuberance and desire to move art in new directions, rather than relevance to the particulars of Saroyan’s common settings or themes, that Saroyan Prize judges will be seeking. Of course, any artist’s work is best understood through direct experience, and judges for the Saroyan prize will make their choices based on their personal experience with Saroyan’s writings.
