Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) was born in Lyons, France. He wrote The Little Prince in the United States during a two-year self-imposed exile from occupied France. A year after the book's publication in 1943, Saint-Exupéry disappeared over the Mediterranean while flying a reconnaissance mission for his French air squadron. Best known throughout the world as the author and illustrator of The Little Prince, Saint-Exupéry wrote several other books that have also become classics of world literature.