French author Marc Levy arrived in Vietnam Friday for a nine-day visit to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Best-selling French novelist Marc Levy will join this year’s French Book Festival in Hanoi.

Next Tuesday the novelist will attend the festival opening ceremony at 44 Trang Tien Street and a conference at Hanoi’s French Culture Center (L’Espace) at 24 Trang Tien Street. The following day he will meet with students and readers at Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

On Thursday, Levy will travel to Ho Chi Minh City for a meeting at the Institute of Cultural Exchange with France (Idecaf).

The 47-year-old novelist will spend Friday signing books at Fahasa bookstore on HCMC’s Nguyen Hue city Boulevard.

The nine-day visit will end Saturday next week.

Marc Levy studied at the prestigious Paris-Dauphine University. After six years working at the French Red Cross and studying, he went to live in the US.

He remained there from 1984 to 1991.

His first novel Et si c’etait vrai…, released in 1999 and translated into English as “If Only It were True” was a top-selling hardback novel in France and Europe in 2000 and in Vietnam two years ago. His eighth and most recent novel Toutes ces choses qu’on ne s’est pas dites (All Those Things We Never Said), published in France in May, was number one on the French bestseller lists after one week.

Last year, for the fourth year running, Marc Levy was the most-read author in his home country.

Based on the themes of love and friendship, his books have been translated into 41 languages and also chosen as topics for research in colleges.

Levy’s works are favorites for many Vietnamese young readers. Marc Levy fan clubs operate in Hanoi and HCMC, the first Vietnamese fan clubs for a foreign author.

Reported by T. D.