I am a Canadian novelist, who writes both under the pen name Con Cú (owl in Vietnamese) and my own name of Ian Thomas Shaw. My pen name was derived from a nickname given to me by a Vietnamese friend, whose stories about Vietnam and coming as a child to Canada inspired my first novel, Soldier, Lily, Peace and Pearls. I was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. For the last 34 years, I have worked as a diplomat and as an international development worker, living in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. I currently live in Aylmer, Quebec (just outside of Ottawa). My second novel, Quill of the Dove, is a blend of literary fiction and political thriller set against the Lebanese Civil War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Quill of the Dove was published by Guernica Editions in April 2019, and was optioned for a TV limited series by Original Pictures in June 2019. In July 2019, Éditions l'Interligne acquired the French translation rights for the novel, and Editorial Gregal acquired the Catalan translation rights. I am the founder of Deux Voiliers Publishing, the Prose in the Park Literary Festival and the Ottawa Review of Books.