Steve Toltz rolls the dice in his new dark comedy

Steve Toltz talks to Claire Nichols about his comic novel A Rising of the Lights, and former diplomat Ian Kemish reflects on his tender debut, Two Islands, exploring the long tail of war.
Twins separated by the role of a dice, the rise of AI, and a mystery behind lives trying to hold it together in a lonely fractured world. These are just a few of the themes discussed with Claire Nichols about A Rising of the Lights (penguin.com.au/books/a-rising-of-the-lights-97…), the latest darkly comic novel from the Booker Prize shortlisted author Steve Toltz (penguin.com.au/authors/steve-toltz).
Ian Kemish (uqp.com.au/authors/ian-kemish) has used his considerable knowledge as a former Australian diplomat to write a debut that is ultimately about compassion. In Two Islands (uqp.com.au/books/two-islands) a young man flees the Balkan conflict to an isolated island on the west coast of Scotland. What does he find there and is he safe?