Writing Podcast Episode 708: Former ambassador Ian Kemish and his novel, 'Two Islands'

The 1990s are often looked back at fondly as a largely peaceful time. But for former Australian ambassador to Germany Ian Kemish, the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland featured largely in his job at the time. Now retired, he has chosen to set his debut thriller novel, Two Islands , during this timeframe. In this episode he shares his inspiration for the book, the real life characters and how to capture the nuances of the story and the decade. What do you do after you retire from a celebrated 25-year diplomatic career? Play golf? Take up birdwatching? No, you write your first novel. 00:00 Welcome 07:26 Writing tip: Ask "why?" to being blocked 10:31 WIN!: Aubrey Wants to Die by Pip Knight 12:15 Word of the week: 'Absquatulate' 16:16 Writer in residence: Ian Kemish 17:14 Ian describes what Two Islands is about 19:34 What are the two islands in question? 22:04 Remembering Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland 23:30 Inspiration for the novel 25:53 Why the Balkans? 27:35 The inspiration for the Australian character, Anita 30:01 Writing about the 1990s: distance before the internet 31:22 How the story took shape 34:07 Researching the book 38:15 From bad poetry to diplomacy: finding his writing voice 40:52 The challenges of writing fiction for the first time 45:28 Landing the publishing deal 47:54 What's next? 49:09 Ian's tip for writers 50:32 Final thoughts Read the show notes Connect with Valerie and listeners in the podcast community on Facebook Visit WritersCentre.com.au | ValerieKhoo.com

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Writing Podcast Episode 708: Former ambassador Ian Kemish and his novel, 'Two Islands' is an episode from So You Want To Be A Writer with Valerie Khoo and Allison Tait: Australian Writers' Centre podcast by Australian Writers' Centre.

This episode is 52:21 long.

This episode was published on Mar 16, 2026.

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