my guest is the renowned colombian novelist juan gabriel vasquez, who weaves powerful stories out of fact and fiction. is there anything magical about colombia's current reality? juan gabriel vasquez, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to have you. now you inhabit two different intellectual worlds. you are a political commentator. it is yourjob to have instant, strong opinions for newspapers. on the other hand, you're also a novelist who writes complex, nuanced novels that are sort of riddled with doubt and uncertainty. which of these two mental attitudes comes more naturally to you? well, i'm first and foremost a novelist. iwas... i began writing fiction at a very young age, and it was always my ideal to write the kind of novels that i had grown up with. but in south america, a novelist is also a citizen. and so you develop very quickly the need, the compulsion sometimes, the feeling of obligation to comment on the political reality. so in a sense, there are two different and opposite ethics. erm... you write fiction out of uncertainty and doubts and quest

juan gabriel vasquez, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to have you. now you inhabit two different intellectual worlds. you are a political commentator. it is yourjob to have instant, strong opinions for newspapers. on the other hand, you're also a novelist who writes complex, nuanced novels that are sort of riddled with doubt and uncertainty. which of these two mental attitudes comes more naturally to you? well, i'm first and foremost a novelist. iwas... i began writing fiction at a very young age, and it was always my ideal to write the kind of novels that i had grown up with. but in south america, a novelist is also a citizen. and so you develop very quickly the need, the compulsion sometimes, the feeling of obligation to comment on the political reality. so in a sense, there are two different and opposite ethics. erm... you write fiction out of uncertainty and doubts and questions. novels are written to ask questions, not to give answers. but at the same time, you're a political commentator who tries to have certainties, who tries to shed doubts...

juan gabriel vasquez, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to have you. to have instant, strong opinions for newspapers.

juan gabriel vasquez, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to have you.