Philippe Sands & Juan Gabriel Vásquez: Justice, Impunity, Literature

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Image courtesy of CCCB.

Writers Philippe Sands and Juan Gabriel Vásquez discuss how literature can be used as a tool to combat political impunity, following the publication of Sands’ book Carrer Londres 38.

Few writers combine literary narration with reflections on injustice, violence, and historical memory as powerfully as Philippe Sands and Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Years after the trial of Augusto Pinochet — in which Sands participated as a prosecutor — the author once again delves into the events of the Chilean dictatorship in his latest book, Carrer Londres 38. Dos casos d’impunitat: Pinochet a Anglaterra i un nazi a Patagònia (Londres 38: Two Cases of Impunity: Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia), revealing unexpected links between Nazism and colonial history.

Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez, for his part, has explored the history of violence in his own country and incontemporary Latin America in novels such as The Sound of Things Falling and The Shape of the Ruins, becoming a vital voice for understanding the region’s complex reality.

In this conversation, moderated by journalist and author Guillermo Altares, two of today’s most important authors on the subject reflect on how literature can help us confront our most painful past and fight against impunity and injustice.

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