Poet. Born Louis-Jacques-Napoléon Bertrand, he was instrumental in the introduction of the prose poem into French literature with his poetic collection entitled “Gaspard of the Night”, published posthumously in 1842. Settling in Dijon, France in 1815, Bertrand found little success during his lifetime and spent most of his career publishing his works in the newspaper of which he was manager. He lived briefly in Paris, but returned to Dijon where he continued his contributions to the local newspaper. He died from tuberculosis at the age of 34. Composer Maurice Ravel wrote a piano suite (1908) based on some of the poems of “Gaspard of the Night”. (bio by: Samuel Taylor Geer)