Which influence has the past, which influence has a city from which ancestors had to flee on one’s mind, on one’s writing? Philippe Sands and Esther Freud will discuss the influence of Vienna on who they are, what they write, and how they write about it.

Philippe Sands will also be talking about his relationship with Lemberg and the circumstances in which he wrote his international best-seller Rückkehr nach Lemberg, the continuing resonance of the ideas that underpin the concepts of ‘genocide’ and ‘crimes against humanity’, and his latest book, Die Rattenlinie – ein Nazi auf der Flucht: Lügen, Liebe und die Suche nach der Wahrheit. Esther Freud, great granddaughter of Sigmund Freud, has just published her new novel I Coulnd’t Love You More, a candid portrait of love, sex, motherhood, and the enduring ties of family. Two of her novels – Summer at Gaglow, and The Sea House – are inspired by her family history, and the refugee experience that impacted her family when they settled in England.

Philippe Sands is Professor of Law at University College London and a barrister at Matrix Chambers. His latest books are East West Street (2016) and The Ratline (2020), in which Vienna and his family origins feature. He is President of English PEN and a member of the Board of the Hay Festival of Arts and Literature.

Esther Freud is the author of nine novels, the first of which, Hideous Kinky, was made into a film starring Kate Winslet.  She has written plays, short stories and articles, and in 2019 was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. I Couldn’t Love You More, her most recent book, was published in May.