In his award-winning book, East West Street: On the Origins of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide, lawyer and writer Philippe Sands QC explores how personal lives and history are interwoven. The book is part historical detective story, part family history, and part legal thriller. It explores the connections between Sands’ work on 'crimes against humanity' and 'genocide', the events that overwhelmed his family during the Second World War, and an untold story at the heart of the Nuremberg Trial.

In this conversation with Melbourne Law School's Hilary Charlesworth, Philippe Sands discussed the various types of writing in which he engages (book, stage, film, radio); how this turn came about; its relationship with more traditional forms of scholarship and legal writing; and how creative non-fiction can illuminate the law.

Philippe Sands QC is Professor of Law at University College London and a barrister and arbitrator at Matrix Chambers. He is the author of Lawless World (2005) and Torture Team (2008), of academic books on international law, and contributes to the New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, the Financial Times and The Guardian. His latest book is East West Street: On the Origins of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide (Alfred Knopf/Weidenfeld & Nicolson), winner of the 2016 Baillie Gifford (Samuel Johnson) Prize and 2017 British Book Awards Non-Fiction Book of the Year. It is accompanied by a BBC Storyville film, My Nazi Legacy: What Our Fathers Did. He is now writing the sequel. He is a vice president of the Hay Festival and a member of the board of English PEN.

This invitation-only event is co-sponsored by APCML, IILAH and the Laureate Program in International Law.