Antoine de Saint Exupery was born on June 29, 1900 in Lyon, France; he was the third of five children. His father was a Viscount who died when Antoine was three. He attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he studied architecture. In 1921, he joined the 2nd Regiment of Chasseurs and was sent to Strasburg to train as a pilot. After training, he moved to Paris and worked in an office.  In 1926, Antoine worked as an international flying postman between Toulouse and Dakar; by 1929 he was the director of Cape Juby airfield in Morrocco; later that year he moved to Argentenia to become director of the Aeroposta Argentina Company. He married Consuelo Suncin in 1931; but still continued to have affairs with other women. In 1935, Antoine’s plane crashed in the Libyan Sahara desert while he was attempting to break a speed record flying from Paris to Saigon. They were rescued after four days in the scorching desert. During World War II, Antoine joined the French airforce. Antoine and his wife moved to New York City in 1941 and lived in Canada during 1942. They returned to France where Antoine flew with the Free French Forces. He disappeared during a flight over Southern France in July of 1944.

Saint Exupery’s first published story was L’Aviateur. His first book (Courrier Sud) was published in 1929. He wrote the book he is most famous for Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) in 1942 and it was published in 1943. In all, he wrote 14 literary works, most of which were published posthumously.

Antoine de Saint Exupery disappeared and was believed to have died on July 31, 1944. The remains of his plane were found off the coast of Marseille in 2004.