Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Born Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, Count de Saint-Exupery, Antoine de Saint-Exupery is best known as the writer of the seminal novella The Little Prince, published in 1943, and his prose chronicling his work in aviation. Saint- Exupery began his career as a successful commercial pilot, flying airmail routes in Europe, Africa and South America. At the beginning of World War II, Saint-Exupery joined the French Air Force, and spent time flying reconnaissance missions for his home country until an armistice with Germany was declared in 1940. Saint-Exupery then traveled to the United States where he attempted to convince the U.S. government to join the war against the burgeoning Nazi empire. During his hiatus in North America Saint-Exupery won a National Book Award for Wind, Sand & Stars, and at the urging of one of his publishers began work on The Little Prince, which he hoped could compete with P.L. Travers' popular Mary Poppins series. The story, partially inspired by Saint-Exupery's experience being stranded in the African desert, has since become iconic in France and across the world. In 1943 Saint-Exupery left North America to join the Free French Air Force at Algiers. Saint-Exupery was known for his habit of reading and writing while in flight, and once reportedly circled an airport for an hour so he could finish a novel before landing. In July 1944, Saint-Exupery took off from an airport in Corsica on a reconnaissance mission to collect information about German troop movements. His plane vanished. Days later an unidentifiable body in a French uniform was found and buried.