William S. Burroughs (born 1914 in St. Louis, Missouri, died 1997 in Lawrence, Kansas) was an American novelist and poet. Burroughs is one key figures of the Beat Generation among writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Burroughs lived in many places around the world including New York, London, Tangier, Paris, Mexico City, and the South American Amazon and has published both fiction and non-fiction besides being involved with film and various kinds of recordings.