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A Mind for Murder

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Please note that this event has been postponed.

What makes somebody a killer – and why are we so fascinated by murder? Forensic psychiatrist Donald Grant has been grappling with both questions throughout his working life.

In Killer Instinct: Having a Mind for Murder, Grant brings his experience to bear on the psychological, criminal, cultural and existential phenomenon of murder. Does our interest signal anxiety about our own ability to kill … or to be killed? And does this interest – voyeuristic or sordid as it may sometimes seem – actually perform an important function?

Grant – who was Queensland’s first State Director of Forensic Psychiatry, and sat on the bench of the state’s Mental Health Court for five years – has some thoughts on that. Hear them as he joins Aimee Knight for a conversation about the murderous mind, and our cultural obsession with untimely deaths.

Hill of Content will be our bookseller at this event.

Featuring

Donald Grant

Leading forensic psychiatrist Donald Grant was the first State Director of Forensic Psychiatry in Queensland, and sat on the bench of the state’s unique Mental Health Court for five years. His life’s work has been understanding the murderous mind.

Aimee Knight

Aimee is a writer and critic from Kaurna yerta / Adelaide. She’s the small screens editor at the Big Issue and pop culture columnist at the Lifted Brow. Her work appears in the Guardian, Kill Your Darlings, Meanjin and more. She’s writing a book about Jim Henson’s cultural ... Read more

Location

The Wheeler Centre

176 Little Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000

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The Wheeler Centre acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Centre stands. We acknowledge and pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their Elders, past and present, as the custodians of the world’s oldest continuous living culture.