Dominique Lapierre, French writer and author of The City of Joy, has died at the age of 91, announced his widow

At 91, he died of old age," explained Dominique Conchon-Lapierre in the regional daily Var-Matin, confiding in this interview that she is "at peace and serene since Dominique is no longer suffering.

 

As much a philanthropist as a successful writer, he had sold, with his "brother in crime" Larry Collins, some 50 million copies of their six novels, including "Is Paris Burning?

 

After writing, alone, "The City of Joy" (1985), about a slum in Calcutta, he gave a good part of his royalties to the poor people who had inspired him. The novel sold millions of copies and was made into a film, directed by Roland Joffé, in 1992.

After "Is Paris Burning?" he continued his fruitful collaboration with Collins: "Where You Will Carry My Mourning" (1968, about the bullfighter El Cordobes), "O Jerusalem" (1972), "Tonight Freedom" (1975, about Indian independence), "The Fifth Horseman" (1980, fiction about an atomic bomb) and the thriller "Is New York Burning?

 

Lapierre also co-wrote, with the Spaniard Javier Moro, "Il était minuit cinq à Bhopal" (2001) and, with Jean-Pierre Pedrazzini, "Il était une fois l'URSS" (2005).

 

Born on July 30, 1931 in Châtelaillon (in the French department of Charente-Maritime), he was also a journalist for Paris-Match.