La vie devant soi

Romain Gary, born Roman Kacew in Vilnius in 1914, was a Lithuanian-born French novelist, diplomat, film director, and WWII aviator who served with the Free French Forces and received decorations like the Compagnon de la Libération. Writing under the pseudonym Émile Ajar, he uniquely won the Prix Goncourt twice—once for Les Racines du ciel (1956) and again for La vie devant soi (1975)—and authored over 30 novels, essays, and memoirs. He worked as a French consul general in Los Angeles and directed films before dying by suicide in 1980.