Lillian Hellman (1905–1984) was an American playwright, essayist and novelist. She spent a large part of her childhood at boarding school and also went to Sunday school, which influenced the themes of her works. Many of her books and plays are semi-autobiographical, containing experiences from her personal life that she always enhanced with imaginary events and situations. Inspired by her own history, she often analysed the psyche of her characters and their childhoods. Many of her works were influenced by her left-wing ideology and activism, and through them she criticised society and the American way of life, as well as social inequality. A number of her plays have been filmed, often adapted by herself, as she was also a screenwriter. So accustomed was she to enriching her autobiographical works with elements of fiction, that a few years before her death she felt that she had begun to confuse truth and myth to such an extent that she was no longer sure what had really happened to her.

 

A short list of her plays:
The little foxes, Watch on the Rhine, Toys in the attic, The autumn garden, The lark.

 

Maybe it’s easy for the dying to be honest. (...)  I'll die my own way, and I'll do it without making the world worse. I leave that to you. (The little foxes)

I was lonely when i was young. Not in the way people usually mean. I was lonely for all the things i wasnt  gonna get. (The little foxes)