Tartarin de Tarascon

Novelist and short-story writer Alphonse Daudet was born on May 13, 1840 in Nimes, France. At the age of 14, he wrote his first novel. He worked as a teacher in Alais, a journalist in Paris, and as a private secretary for Duke de Morny from 1861 to 1865. He married fellow writer Julia Allard in 1867. He enlisted in the army during the Franco-Prussian war. He is primarily remembered for his sentimental tales of provincial life in the south of France. His novel Fromont the Younger and Risler the Elder won an award from the Academie Francaise. He died on December 16, 1897 in Paris.