Alphonse Daudet

French novelist, short story writer, and playwright, known for his poetic and humorous depictions of life in Provence. Born in Nîmes, southern France, in 1840, he was the son of a silk merchant and studied in Lyon. In 1858, he published his first work, the poetry collection "The Lovers." This was followed by short stories like "Letters from My Windmill" (1869) and novels such as "Fromont Junior and Risler Senior" (1874), "The Nabob" (1877), "Kings in Exile" (1879), and "Tartarin on the Alps" (1885). His works are based on everyday observations meticulously recorded in notebooks. He passed away on December 16, 1897.