Harold Pinter

English dramatist Harold Pinter was born in Hackney, East London, to East European immigrants. He started writing poetry in grammar school, publishing his first poem in Poetry London. His first play, The Room, which he wrote in three days, premiered in Bristol in May 1957. One of his most produced and best-known plays, The Birthday Party (1957), established the “comedy of menace” that characterizes his style. Pinter was also known for his outspoken political stances, antiwar and human rights activism, and involvement with PEN International. In 2005 he was honored with the Nobel Prize in Literature.