The Little Prince in Quebec

Quebec celebrates  the 70th anniversary of the publication of The Little Prince . Discover the cultural events to come, here .

April 6 , 1943, in the United States : the original edition of The Little Prince is released simultaneously in English and French . From the outset , a joint publication between American publishers Reynal & Hitchcock and Beauchemin in Montreal is printed for Quebec. Antoine de Saint- Exupery is already well known overseas thanks to the success of Vol de Nuit and Terre des Hommes . Invited to Montreal in late April 1942 by the Quebec publisher Bernard Valiquette, the author presents his new book Pilote de Guerre , published in February in New York.

April 30 , 1942, a conference is scheduled at the Auditorium du Plateau, Lafontaine Park, where the author recounts his memories of war and defends against controversies and quarrels , what appears to be the most valuable asset: France’s need of unity against Nazi occupation. On the same day , using the words of the speaker , Le Devoir titles « Avoid the French quarrel among themselves » while La Presse quotes : « The Nazi seeks to erase France ». Another conference was held at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City, May 4 , in front of over 1,400 people .

So he planned to stay for two days on site , Saint- Exupéry is threatened to wait six months to regularize his visa. His wife Consuelo joined him at the Windsor Hotel , where he stayed five weeks , interspersed with trips in the Quebec province in the Iroquois Kahnawake reserve where it is called « the prince of birds flying high  » in Saint- Hippolyte Saint Theodore of Chertsey , Lanaudière . Weakened by health concerns, however, Saint- Exupéry took advantage of his reputation as a writer and pilot to meet many Quebec personalities and discover the charm of some known restaurants as « Le Lutin qui bouffe » and « Café Martin » . Back in New York in June 1942, he began to write The Little Prince and the Letter to a hostage to be released in March 1943 in America under the title Letter to a Friend [ Léon Werth ] , the dedicatee of little Prince .

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