Saint-John Perse, pen-name of Alexis Saint-Léger Léger (1887-1975), was born in Guadeloupe, French West Indies, studied in Bordeaux and Paris, and spent many years with the French diplomatic service, notably in China.

Deprived of citizenship by the Vichy regime in 1940, he moved to Washington, where he held a post at the Library of Congress. With his American wife, he returned to France in 1957 and settled at Giens outside Toulon.

His publications include Anabase (1924), Exil (1942), Vents (1946), Amers (1957) and Oiseaux (1962). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1960.