(1900–44), French writer and aviator, born in Lyon, and educated at the University of Fribourg. He joined the French air force in 1921 and became a commercial pilot in 1926. His first two books, Southern Mail (1929; trans. 1933) and Night Flight (1931; trans. 1932), are novels distinguished by a poetic evocation of the romance and discipline of flying, which requires devotion to duty at the risk of death. His later works, including Wind, Sand and Stars (1939; trans. 1939) and Flight to Arras (1942; trans. 1942), stress the humanistic philosophy of Saint-Exupéry. His popular children’s book The Little Prince (1943; trans. 1943) is also read by adults for its allegorical meaning. During World War II, Saint-Exupéry rejoined the French air force, was shot down, escaped to the U.S., and later joined the Free French forces. In July 1944 his Lockheed Lightning P38 plane vanished while he was on a reconnaissance mission over southern France and wasn’t found until 2000, when a French diver discovered the wreckage of a P38 in water off the coast of Marseille; it wasn’t until 2003, however, that another dive in the area confirmed that the wreckage was that of Saint-Exupéry’s plane. His notebooks, collected under the title Wisdom of the Sands (1948; trans. 1950), were published posthumously.