William Styron was born in Newport News, Virginia, in 1925. He studied at Davidson College and graduated from Duke University in 1947 with a B.A. in English. His fiction often examined Southern history, race and the legacies of violence.
His novels include Lie Down in Darkness (1951), The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967) and Sophie's Choice (1979). He also wrote Darkness Visible, a memoir about severe depression. He died on Martha's Vineyard in 2006.
Source: Wikipedia