French writer Dominique Lapierre, author of "The city of happiness"

The French writer Dominique Lapierre, passionate about India and author of “The City of Joy” which inspired the film of the same name, He died at the age of 91 on the French Riviera, his widow announced on Sunday to the local press.

“At 91, he died of old age,” said Dominique Conchon-Lapierre to the regional newspaper Var-Matin, noting that she feels “at peace and serene now that Dominique is no longer suffering”.

Best-selling author and philanthropist Lapierre sold, along with his “pen brother” Larry Collins, some 50 million copies of his six novelsincluding “Is Paris burning?”, translated into 40 languages.

After the success of the novel “The City of Joy” (1985), about a Calcutta slum, He donated part of his royalties to the poor who inspired the work.

The novel sold millions of copies and was made into a film in 1992 by Roland Joffé, with Patrick Swayze in the lead role.

In 2005, he declared that, thanks to his royalties, donations from readers and income from lectures delivered around the world, his humanitarian action “It made it possible to cure a million tuberculosis patients in 24 years, to treat 9,000 children with leprosy, build 540 water wells and equip four hospital ships in the Ganges delta in India”.

After “Is Paris burning?”, he continued his fruitful collaboration with Collins with “Where will you take my mourning” (1968, about the bullfighter El Cordobés), “O Jerusalén” (1972), “Freedom Tonight” (1975, about Indian independence), “The Fifth Horseman” (1980, about an atomic bomb) and the thriller “Is New York Burning?” (2004).

With the Spanish Javier Moro, Lapierre co-wrote “It was midnight in Bhopal” (2001).

Born on July 30, 1931 in Chatelaillon, he worked as a journalist for the Paris-Match newspaper.