From humble beginnings in a fractured family, Aram Saroyan, author of the most controversial one-word poem in history, charts an unforgettable journey through art, fame, and the 20th-century bohemian counterculture.
“Before I Forget: A Memoir (and Then Some)” is a powerful literary memoir by poet Aram Saroyan, son of William Saroyan, that reflects on a life shaped by art, fame, and a fractured family. Includes rare photos, stories, and a behind-the-scenes view of American cultural and bohemian life from the 1950s onward.
In “Before I Forget,” Saroyan remembers his beginnings in Manhattan, Los Angeles, London, and Bolinas. The son of the beloved author William Saroyan and step-son of Walter Matthau, he probes the fallout of his father and mother’s broken marriage and lessons gleaned in their wake.
Saroyan paints a series of scenarios that impacted his life: An eight-year-old is cast out on the comic sea of Beverly Hills in the fifties. A young man encounters fame working with photographer Richard Avedon and a revolving list of models, including Marilyn Monroe. A journey to nurture his own authentic, original literary voice finds love and support when least expected, balancing the prickle of critical controversy. Here is a multi-faceted artist’s valedictory.
The memoir includes 20 rare photos from the author’s personal archive and two narrative novellas that frame Saroyan’s life in literature with imaginative reflections and sharp emotional insight.
Kirkus Reviews says the book is, “One of the last living witnesses to the age of Jack Kerouac and the road trips of postwar American performance, Saroyan offers brief essays on the lives and loves of the era. . . . A vivid recollection of an age when every day could be a dream.”
Ellen Sander, author of “Hawthorne,” “A House in Bolinasand Trips,“ “Rock Life in the Sixties” says, “Aram Saroyan bullets the memoir formula the way he busted up poetics with his minimalist poems, on which, not so incidentally, he dallies in this resilient, often hilarious sketchbook of a brilliantly impudent multidisciplinary journey.”
Aram Saroyan is a poet and author best known for his minimalist poems. His “Complete Minimal Poems“ received the 2008 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. He is featured in the documentary film “One Quick Move or I’m Gone: Jack Kerouac at Big Sur“ and his comments appear in the oral biographies “George Being George: George Plimpton’s Life and Salinger.“ He is the author of “Still Night in L.A.,“ “Trio,“ and the true crime Literary Guild selection “Rancho Mirage,“ as well as many other books of prose and poetry. He lives in Newport Beach.
Saroyan will be featured in Literary Lights 2026. Keep an eye on IAlA’s website and socials for the announcement. Support their work by purchasing the novel at their Bookshop.org storefront.
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