ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY, the "Winged Poet," was born in Lyon, France, in 1900. A pilot at twenty-six, he was a pioneer of commercial aviation and flew in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. His writings include The Little Prince , Wind, Sand and Stars , Night Flight , Southern Mail , and Airman's Odyssey . In 1944, while flying a reconnaissance mission for his French air squadron, he disappeared over the Mediterranean.

Richard Howard is the author of eleven books of poetry, including Untitled Subjects , which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1970, and Trappings . He is the translator of more than 150 works from the French and lives in New York City.