Wilson, August (1945–2005)

US playwright. His goal was to write a cycle of plays, one set in each decade of the 20th century. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he never finished high school. He won two Pulitzer Prizes for his plays, which depict the black experience in the USA – Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990) and his Ma Rainey's Black Bottom won a New York Drama Critics Circle Award (1984–85). He also founded Minnesota's Black Horizons Theatre Company.