Frédéric Mistral

Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral was born 8 September 1830 in Provence, and from early on he wrote in Occitan, the language of his region, rather than the dominant French. He co-founded the Félibrige, a movement to restore and elevate Provençal literature, and became a lexicographer of the language itself. His long poem "Mirèio" drew praise from Alphonse de Lamartine, who devoted an entire edition of his periodical to Mistral's work, lifting him into wider view. Alphonse Daudet, a longtime friend, later honored him in "Poet Mistral," a story in Letters from My Windmill. The Nobel committee awarded him the 1904 prize for literature, citing the "fresh originality and true inspiration" of his poetry and his work as a Provençal philologist. He died 25 March 1914, having spent a lifetime insisting that his people's language could hold the weight of art.