<p><strong>August Wilson</strong> was the most iconic African American playwright of the late-twentieth century, most known for the Century Cycle, a series of ten plays set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. Of these, <em>Fences</em> earned him a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award in 1987, and another Pulitzer Prize in 1990, for <em>The Piano Lesson</em>. In 1996,<em> Seven Guitars</em> premiered on the Broadway stage, followed by <em>King Hedley II</em> in 2001 and <em>Gem of the Ocean</em> in 2004.</p>
One of the contemporary American theater's most innovative wordsmiths. Her plays include: Topdog/Underdog (2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), In the Blood (2000 Pulitzer-nominee), Fucking A, Venus (OBIE Award), The America Play and Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (OBIE Award, Best New American Play). She is also a screenwriter, novelist, and MacArthur "Genius" grantee.