French contemporary author Patrick Deville, whose award-winning novel “Yersin - Peste et cholera” (Yersin- Plagues and cholera) has been translated into Vietnamese, is set to speak in an exchange in Da Lat city tonight, Dec 11 and in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on Dec 12 and 14.

The exchange in Da Lat, which will take place at Book Café, 18-20 Hoa Binh, at 7pm on Dec 11, will be attended by the French Ambassador to Vietnam and provincial officials.

The exchange is to commemorate the 2013 Vietnam France Year as well as the 70th death anniversary of eminent Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin and the 120th anniversary of Da Lat city, which was discovered by Yersin himself.

Deville will also introduce another of his works, “Longue Vue” (Long vision), which bears a contrasting style compared to his “Yersin- Peste et Cholera” at the Hanoi exchange at 24 Trang Tien at 8pm on Dec 12. The book’s Vietnamese version has also been recently released.

Meanwhile, HCMC readers will join the exchange with the French author at IDECAF, 31 Thai Van Lung, district 1 at 10am on Dec 14.

“Yersin - Peste et cholera”, a novelized biography book, successfully depicts the French doctor’s frugal lifestyle, his lifelong dedication to medicine and 50-year stay in Vietnam, his second hometown. The book won the 2012 Femina prize and entered the finals of other prestigious prizes including Goncourt, Renaudot and Médicis.

During his earlier visit to Nha Trang, Deville was on the constant lookout for Yersin’s tracks as a source of inspiration for his book. In his book, Deville wrote beautiful, poetic prose on the stunning landscapes and hospitable people in Nha Trang and Dalat, which Yersin considered “paradise”.

The book is warmly embraced in France and worldwide as French people are now rediscovering their gifted doctor, who has seemingly fallen into oblivion in his hometown.

Alexandre Yersin (1863 – 1943) is most remembered as the co-discoverer of the bacillus responsible for the bubonic plague or pest in 1894.

The venerated doctor was credited in Vietnam with discovering Liang Biang Plateau, the site for Da Lat town in 1893 and founding the Nha Trang Pasteur institute in 1895.

Yersin lived and worked for 50 years (1890-1943) in Nha Trang City in central Khanh Hoa province, and died at his home in Nha Trang. He was posthumously given the Honorary Citizen title by the Vietnamese government and is worshipped by locals.