“I treated history as a discipline, not decoration.” Ian Kemish AM shares insight from his foray into fiction

The former senior Australian diplomat and UQ alum’s book, Two Islands, is his first work of historical fiction inspired by ‘what people carry with them and what they try to leave behind’.

“It’s about identity and memory, the long shadow of political violence, and also the possibility of refuge and renewal,” Mr Kemish said.

“Diplomacy trains you to pay attention and sharpens your ear for dialogue.

“You learn to listen carefully, notice what people say and avoid saying, and understand what they might be trying to protect.

“That’s a surprisingly useful habit for a novelist.

“A single sentence can have multiple meanings — and that’s often true in fiction too.”

Throughout a distinguished career, Mr Kemish served as the Head of the Australian Prime Minister's International Division, Australian Ambassador to Germany and Switzerland, and Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea.

His first book, The Consul (2022) provided a first-person account of Australia’s foreign affairs challenges over 2 decades.

“I spent most of my DFAT career in wider diplomacy - the political and economic work that is the ‘bread and butter’ of a diplomat,” he said.

“I also worked for many years as head of the global consular service, and that’s what I chose to write about in The Consul.

“The role is to respond when fellow Australians face serious problems overseas, such as a death, hospitalisation or arrest.

“You’re dealing with Australians facing crisis overseas and often in situations where time, emotion and stakes are high.”

The transition to fiction after The Consul came naturally, with Mr Kemish wanting to challenge himself to build a fictional world and sustain a narrative.

“My professional life has been about real people in real situations, often shaped by history, politics, and identity,” he said.

“Fiction gave me another way to explore those same themes — loyalty, belonging, fear, resilience, moral ambiguity — but with more creative freedom.”

A tale of two worlds

Two Islands follows Niko, a young man who arrives on an isolated Scottish isle after running for his life, pursued by those who want him silenced for what he has seen in the Balkan War. 

Mr Kemish said the narrative draws on 2 significant periods of his own life, the first as a young diplomat his early thirties working in the Balkans during the war in the 1990s (pictured below).

“That experience left me with a lasting sense of how quickly ordinary life can fracture, and how conflict doesn’t end neatly when the headlines move on,” he said.

“The second influence was my love for Scotland, particularly the western isles, a place that represents peace: landscape, silence, community, and a deep continuity of culture and memory.

“Those two worlds come together through the idea that people carry hidden histories into peaceful places.”

Writing historical fiction that stays true to its period can be challenging, but Mr Kemish said he treated history as a discipline, not a decoration.

“My background in modern history has left me with a strong respect for context, for what people could plausibly know, believe, and do at a given moment,” he said.

“The goal wasn’t to write a textbook in narrative form but to create a story that feels authentic.

“Fiction requires character, pace and emotional truth, but when I did take liberties, I ensured I served the story without violating the spirit of the period.”