Panel - Is Evil Real? Writing about the darker side of the Human Condition

Jack Roney, Edwina Shaw and Ian Kemish discuss the darker side of the Human Condition. How do you write dangerous humans? The dangerously disturbed? How are the monsters that society reviles created and how do you write these characters? 

Jack Roney is a retired Queensland police officer and former detective. His crime fiction is influenced by real experiences. His latest novel ‘Black Gully’was shortlisted in the Plaza Crime Prize and Hawkeye Manuscript Development Prize. His first novel ‘The Ghost Train and the Scarlet Moon’ was the runner up in the Hawkeye Prize and book 1 of his Detective Jarrod O’Connor series ‘The Angels Wept’ was shortlisted in the Watpad Awards. He co-hosts the Genre Fiction Podcast and is currently studying a Masters degree in Writing Editing and Publishing at University of Queensland. 

Edwina Shaw is a Queensland author and editor of fiction, memoir and screenplays. She is the author of Dear Madman, A Guide Through Grief, Thrill Seekers, In the Dark of Night and over 40 short pieces that have appeared in literary journals and anthologies including Best Australian Stories. She is the editor of Bjelke Blues and Hard As, and co-editor of Queersland and Our Inside Voices. She has been teaching creative writing at UQ and in the community for over 20 years. She also runs Relax and Write Retreats and is co-director of Transformational Writing Retreats. Dear Madman is the story she was born to tell. www.edwinashaw.com

Ian Kemish AM was just announced as a Lord Mayor’s People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year nominee! Ian is a former Australian diplomat who served as ambassador to Germany, high commissioner to Papua New Guinea, international adviser to the Prime Minister, and head of the consular and crisis management service. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his leadership of the emergency response to the 2002 Bali bombings. An adjunct professor at the University of Queensland, he continues to work as a strategic advisor and as a volunteer director in the homelessness and international humanitarian sectors. Ian’s first book, The Consul (UQP, 2022), offered a personal perspective on Australia’s foreign affairs challenges over two decades − spanning hostage diplomacy, natural disasters and evacuations from war zones. His first work of fiction,Two Islands (UQP 2026) draws on both his diplomatic work in the Balkans in the mid-1990s and his strong family links with the western isles of Scotland. It has recorded very strong sales and attracted glowing reviews for the way it highlights the power of human kindness in standing up to Evil.

Discover more about the Eumundi Writers Festival here: https://eumundiwritersfestival.com.au/