Dominique Lapierre—the noted French author—has several celebrated books to his credit, including City of Joy, Freedom on the Soviet Roads and Chessman Told Me. A Fulbright scholar of economics at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, he travelled all over the world. In 1954, while serving in the French army, he met Larry Collins, a Yale graduate and draftee, to form an abiding friendship and literary partnership that produced renowned books such as Freedom at Midnight, O Jerusalem!, Is Paris Burning? and The Fifth Horseman. Dominique supports many humanitarian projects including refuge centres for leprosy and polio-afflicted children in Kolkata. He was also a close associate of Mother Teresa who gave him exclusive authorization to pen the script of a ?lm on her, titled Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2008.