Who wrote 'The Little Prince'?

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote “The Little Prince.”

Saint-Exupéry was a French writer, poet, journalist, and pioneering aviator. He wrote and illustrated the novella while living in the United States during the Second World War. The book first appeared in English and French in New York in April 1943, published by Reynal & Hitchcock; its French publication followed in 1945, after his death.

The story follows a young prince who travels from his tiny asteroid to several planets and eventually Earth. Through encounters with characters such as a king, a businessman, a fox, and a stranded pilot, the book explores friendship, love, loneliness, responsibility, and the limitations of adult thinking. Although marketed as a children’s book, its philosophical themes have made it meaningful to readers of all ages.

A common mix-up is attributing the book to Jules Verne or Hans Christian Andersen because both are associated with imaginative children’s literature. Saint-Exupéry disappeared during a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean in 1944, one year after the book’s original publication.