Javier Cercas & Juan Gabriel Vásquez
An evening with two of the most acclaimed authors writing in Spanish today
Javier Cercas is known among English-language readers as the author of Soldiers of Salamis (winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize), The Anatomy of a Moment and The Impostor. His latest book, The Blind Spot, is an essential collection of literary criticism in which the author considers some of the most challenging novels of the last 100 years, providing a new interpretation of the novel from Cervantes and Melville to the present.
By contrast, The Shape of the Ruins, the latest novel by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (the multi-awarding winning author of The Sound of Things Falling) takes the form of personal and formal investigations into two political assassinations as a way of locating the seeds of the violence that has bedevilled Colombia since the beginning of the 20th century.
Don't miss this rare opportunity to hear these authors discuss their work.
Javier Cercas is a novelist, short story writer and essayist, and one of Spain's most acclaimed authors whose last book, The Imposter, won the 2016 European Book Prize. His books include Soldiers of Salamis (which sold more than a million copies worldwide, won six literary awards in Spain, was filmed by David Trueba and in Britain won the 2004 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize), The Tenant and The Motive, The Speed of Light, The Anatomy of a Moment and Outlaws. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages. His latest book in translation is The Blind Spot: The Novel from Cervantes to the Present published by MacLehose Press in May.
Juan Gabriel Vásquez is an acclaimed Colombian author born in Bogotá in 1973. His previous books include the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award winner and international bestseller The Sound of Things Falling, as well as The Informers, and The Secret History of Costaguana and Reputations, which was awarded the Royal Spanish Academy Prize. He has translated works by Joseph Conrad, John Dos Passos and Victor Hugo, amongst others. His books have been translated in 28 languages and 40 countries. In 2016 he was made Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et de Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. His latest novel in translation is The Shape of the Ruins published by MacLehose Press in May.
In partnership with MacLehose Press and the British Library