'City of Joy' author Dominique Lapierre dies

December 05, 2022 11:17

Dominique Lapierre, a French author with a passion for India and whose novels sold tens of millions of copies, has died, his wife announced.

"At 91, he died of old age," Dominique Conchon-Lapierre told the French newspaper Var-Matin on Sunday.

She added that she is "at peace and serene since Dominique is no longer suffering".

His 1985-work City of Joy-- based on the hardships of a rickshaw puller in Kolkata -- that turned out to be a massive success. It was also adapted for a movie in 1992 which starred Patrick Swayze and was directed by Roland Joffe.

Born on July 30, 1931 in Chatelaillon, Lapierres works, in collaboration with the American writer Larry Collins, became bestsellers such that they sold about 50 million copies of the six books he wrote.

His most popular work was Is Paris Burning? that was published in 1965 and traced the events leading up to 1944s time period when Nazi Germany seized their control of Paris. It eventually was adapted for the big screen by Francis Ford Coppola and Gore Vidal. Other works by the duo included Or Ill Dress You in Mourning (1968), O Jerusalem (1972), The Fifth Horseman (1980), and Is New York Burning?

The author was awarded the Padma Bhushan, Indias third highest civilian award, in 2008.

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