Mangalore: Celebrated Author Dominique Lapierre Visits St Aloysius
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (MB)
with inputs from Fr Denzil Lobo SJ
Mangalore, Dec 10: Dominique Lapierre, celebrated author of novels like "The City of Joy" (based on the life of Mother Teresa and the great city of Kolkata visited St Aloysius College on Monday, December 10.
In front of the IT block
He was on a visit to the city in the company of a group of French tourists while on a cruise to India.
Lapierre visited the College Chapel and made a brief visit to the Information Technology Centre of St Aloysius College, where he was accorded a warm welcoem by Fr Denzil Lobo SJ, director of AIBA and AICS.
Lapierre appreciated the good work done by the Jesuit fathers and recalled that he himself was an alumnus of Jesuit institution and had close contact with the Jesuit fathers of Kolkata region.
Appreciating the paintings in the chapel
Lapierre with a tourist with Fr Denzil
About this author
Dominique Lapierre, born in 1931 in Châtelaillon near La Rochelle, France, is a French author. He graduated from Lafayette College, Pennsylvania. He spent 14 years as an international reporter with the news magazine "Paris Match".
Two of Lapierre's books - "Is Paris Burning?" (co-written with Larry Collins) and "City of Joy" - have been made into films. Lapierre and Collins wrote several other books together, the last being "Is New York Burning?" (2005), before Collins' 2005 death.
Since 1982, Lapierre has shared his royalties with the non-profit City of Joy Foundation, which provides aid to slum children in Kolkata and West Bengal. The royalties from "Five Past Midnight in Bhopal" go to the Sambhavna clinic in Bhopal which provides free medical treatment to the victims of the 1984 Union Carbide Bhopal disaster.
Lapierre also funds a primary school in Oriya Basti, one of the settlements described in "Five Past Midnight in Bhopal".
He has a daughter, Alexandra, also a writer, and lives in the south of France.
Books
With Larry Collins
'Is Paris Burning?' —Adolf Hitler, August 25, 1944 ("Paris brûle-t-il?", 1965)
Or I'll Dress You in Mourning ("...Où tu porteras mon deuil", 1968)
O Jerusalem! (Ô Jérusalem, 1972), ISBN 0-671-21163-3
Freedom at Midnight ("Cette nuit la liberté", 1975), ISBN 0-671-22088-8
The Fifth Horseman ("Le Cinquième cavalier", 1980), ISBN 0-671-24316-0
Is New York Burning? ("New-York brûle-t-il?", 2005), ISBN 1-59777-520-7
Solo
The City of Joy ("La Cité de la joie", 1985), ISBN 0-385-18952-4
Beyond Love ("Plus grands que l'amour", 1990), ISBN 0-446-51438-1
A Thousand Suns ("Mille soleils", 1999), ISBN 0-446-52535-9
Once Upon a Time in the USSR ("Il était une fois l'URSS", forthcoming 2006)
With Javier Moro
Five Past Midnight in Bhopal ("Il était minuit cinq à Bhopal", 2001), ISBN 0-446-53088-3