Prison City. Things to do in the afternoon prior to the end of the world

Santiago Gamboa

ESSAY, ALFAGUARA, 2023. 472 PAGES

This is Santiago Gamboa's most personal book yet. Written over a three-year period, it contains a set of honest and enthralling texts in which the author reflects on his life, work, favourite reads and personal library, and shares several compelling thoughts about art, literature and the state of Colombia today.
Two questions lie at the heart of this book: What does it mean to write?, and, even more importantly, Why do we write? In order to answer them, Gamboa sets out on a fascinating journey through the cities in which he's lived such as Paris, Bogotá, Delhi, Madrid and Rome, as well as many others he's visited, including Washington, Mexico City and Seoul, stopping off at legendary bars and hotels such as Ambos Mundos in Havanna, one of Hemingway's favourites, and the work of the authors who have kept him company throughout his career; Michel Houellebecq, Paul Bowles, Roberto Bolaño, Arthur Rimbaud, Marguerite Duras, Juan Goytisolo, Karen Blixen and Virginia Woolf, among others. This personal and at times confessional literary journey will leave readers in no doubt that words can always be a refuge and the creative impulse a means of survival.

«Prison City is a clear demonstration that the right to read and write is, most of all, a potent affirmation of life, sheer hand to hand combat with Death.»

Mario Mendoza

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