Simplify the following text for a Grade 5 native English-speaking person.
Original: Cocteau used his contacts to get Genet 's novel published , and in 1949 , when Genet was threatened with a life sentence after ten convictions , Cocteau and other prominent figures , including Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso , successfully petitioned the French President to have the sentence set aside . Genet would never return to prison .
Simplified: Cocteau helped Genet to publish his novel .