Writer Maurice Druon goes on "pilgrimage to the cradle"

Famous French writer Maurice Druon has set off for "a pilgrimage to the cradle" as he described his trip to Orenburg (southern Urals) due on September 30th-October 3rd.

In a RIA Novosti interview, the writer said he had long wanted to visit the town where his predecessors lived in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. And finally, he is starting this long-awaited trip in a joyful excitement.

According to the writer, in Orenburg he intends to visit museums and archives where he is to receive a warm welcome. Besides, Druon is going to meet students and schoolchildren learning foreign languages.

"I'm immensely interested in visiting this Urals area. I've long been looking forward to this trip, and that is where the natural border between Europe and Asia lies. I expect to describe this trip in my memoirs if God gives me enough time," the writer said.

Maurice Druon was born in Paris on April 23rd, 1918. According to his official biography, his roots run into France's Languedoc, Flanders, Brazil and Russia.

Basically, every Frenchman has some relation to Russians, Maurice Druon once said.

The writer's father comes from Orenburg, and his grandmother came from a famous merchant family of Orenburg which owned big shops in the 19th century.

In his youth, Maurice took the last name of his stepfather Druon, and with this name became known in the French and then the world literature.