Aram Saroyan (born September 25, 1943) is an acclaimed American poet, novelist, memoirist, and visual artist celebrated for his groundbreaking 1960s minimalist and concrete poetry. The son of legendary Armenian-American author William Saroyan, he famously pushed the boundaries of language with visual conceptual art—including his controversial, award-winning one-word poem "lighght" and a one-letter poem featuring a four-legged "m" featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. Over a prolific multi-decade career, the former PEN USA West president has authored numerous biographies, true-crime books, and deep personal reflections, most recently releasing his 2026 collage-style literary memoir, Before I Forget: A Memoir (and Then Some) via Three Rooms Press. Today, he resides in Newport Beach, California, where he balances his literary legacy with a visual arts practice focused on abstract color fields and sandstone-engraved poetry.
