'I wanted to be a part of Buenos Aires – and Borges was my guide'

During the decade our writer lived in BA, he got to grips with its streets through the verse of Jorge Luis Borges – and is now revisiting the city via his poetry

Lockdown has made me nostalgic – not about travelling so much as about places. It’s no surprise the focus of some of my fondest remembering has been the world capital of looking back: Buenos Aires. The reasons behind this are many and complex. Porteños – BA residents – are famously given to looking far away, to the Spain or Italy of their ancestors, and to romanticising the brief belle époque of the early 20th century, when Argentina was rich and promising. Tango is laced with longing for the missed and elusive.

Related: Bored in lockdown? Try learning how to tango online