Since he fell in love with India while writing his bestsellers, he allocates half of his royalties and donations from his readers to humanitarian efforts in the slums of Kolkata, in the poorest rural areas of Bengal, and also in Africa and South America. Since 1982, the writer and his wife have helped save thousands of children sick with leprosy or suffering from other physical and mental issues, and have cured a million people with tuberculosis. The organization they founded, Action pour les Enfants des Lépreux de Calcutta (www.cityofjoyaid.org, www.citedelajoie.com), funds numerous programs year after year. For this humanitarian work and his books about the history of the Indian subcontinent, Dominique Lapierre received on May 5, 2008, from the hands of the President of India, the highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan. This official recognition had been especially requested by seventy-five thousand patients who had been healed thanks to Dominique Lapierre.
See more
See less