The first ever ‘Lancaster International Fiction Lecture’, a joint initiative by Lancaster University and Litfest, one of the oldest literature festivals in the country, will be delivered by highly acclaimed Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez.

The collaboration by the University’s Department of European Languages & Cultures and Department of English Literature & Creative Writing will provide the final event in Litfest’s ‘Autumn Weekend’ (7–12 October 2021).

The inaugural lecture will be given online in English on 12^th October at 7.30pm by Juan Gabriel Vásquez, whose dazzling novel about the origins of Colombian violence, The Shape of the Ruins, was short-listed for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize for Fiction.

A previous winner of the prestigious Dublin IMPAC Literary Award 2014 for The Sound of Things falling, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, whose books have been translated into more than 30 languages, is widely regarded as one of the leading Latin American writers of his generation.

He grew up in the Colombian capital of Bogotá in the shadow of the long guerrilla war that has not yet ended, in the shadow of Pablo Escobar and the narcotraficantes, and, in literary terms, in the shadow of Gabriel García Márquez.

In this first Lancaster International Fiction Lecture Juan Gabriel Vásquez will discuss his work in fiction and journalism set against one of the most challenging backdrops of violence and corruption.

At 6.30pm on 11^th October, he will also discuss his latest collection of stories, Songs for the Flames, with his translator Anne McLean in a special ‘Autumn Weekend’ edition of the Litfest International Fiction Book Club, which, like all the club’s sessions, is open to everyone.

Litfest’s ‘Autumn Weekend’ is funded by Lancaster City Council’s annual grant and the generosity of donations from Litfest supporters.

Details of all Litfest’s ‘Autumn Weekend’ events and the donation campaign are now available at www.litfest.org. All Litfest events will be available on YouTube for 30 days after the festival ends.