Conversations

Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met. Journey into their world, joining them on epic adventures to unfamiliar places, back in time to wild moments of history, and into their deepest memories, to be moved by personal stories of resilience and redemption. Hosted by Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski, Conversations is the ABC's most popular long-form interview program. Every day we explore the vast tapestry of human experience, weaving together narratives from history, science, art, and personal storytelling. Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more at the Conversations website.

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Episodes

Chocolate and the universe in Scott Fry

How a bush kid from Magnetic Island graduated to an ashram in India and came to harvest cacao with an ancient, Indigenous tribe on the Amazon River

Sep 30, 2022•45 min

The mysteries of roller derby and grief

After Nova Weetman's partner died, the children's author started writing from and about grief

Sep 29, 2022•53 min

The notorious Lenny McPherson and post-war Australian crime

True crime journalist Jack Hoysted tells the story of the life and times of the man known as the 'Mr Big' of organised crime

Sep 28, 2022•53 min

The Australian Wars

Rachel Perkins' is one of the country's great storytellers, and now she's turned the lens on the bloody conflicts that broke out across the continent after the arrival of the British colonists

Sep 27, 2022•54 min

Bill Crews and the Calais epiphany

Reverend Bill Crews on the moment which changed how he saw his own life story, and his ideas on how we can all cultivate compassion, tolerance, empathy and love in difficult times.

Sep 26, 2022•51 min

Mike Moskowitz — the Ultra-Orthodox rabbi who became a trans ally

Mike's evolution came as a shock, when he was fired from Columbia University and started working in a deli

Sep 23, 2022•54 min

Fearless Alice Anderson and her all-girl garage

The story of an Austin-driving Australian maverick who died in mysterious circumstances (R) Alice was a quintessential, mould-breaking young woman of the roaring twenties. Raised in country Victoria, she was capable and confident, and not interested in what was considered proper. Alice opened a motor touring company in Melbourne during the first world war. The business grew and by the 1920s Miss Anderson's Motor Service included a mechanic's shop, staffed entirely by young women known as 'garage...

Sep 22, 2022•51 min

Jarvis Cocker and the Pulp master plan

The former frontman recently uncovered boxes from his adolescence in his attic, and he was amazed at his early, detailed plans to take over the music industry

Sep 21, 2022•52 min

Pirooz Jafari and the thread of home

The author describes his early life during the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war and how arthouse films and illegal street photography provided him with an escape

Sep 20, 2022•52 min

Remembering Uncle Jack Charles — not true blue, true blak

Uncle Jack was forcibly removed from his mother as a baby and denied his Aboriginality. A one-off trip to Fitzroy connected him with a family he didn’t know about, and promptly landed him in jail (R) (CW: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners please be aware — this interview contains the voice of someone who has died)

Sep 19, 2022•1 hr

A Heart in Two Places

Sarah Donnelley on her life working at Wilcannia Central School, on Barkandji Country 950 kilometres west of Sydney

Sep 16, 2022•53 min

Rick Fenny, Red Dog vet

The outback vet with stories of treating racehorses, camels and the odd chimp as he zigzagged around the Pilbara from the 1970s onwards, and how he came to meet the legendary red kelpie

Sep 15, 2022•51 min

Australia's secret spy ring

The Coast Watchers' story is little known, but these civilians played a crucial role in protecting Australia from the advance of the Japanese Empire

Sep 14, 2022•53 min

The Babies of Holnicote House

Deborah Prior was one of more than 2000 mixed-race babies born to white British women and black American GI's during WWII (R)

Sep 13, 2022•50 min

Tom Gleeson: the hard man of Australian comedy

Tom Gleeson discovered and honed his distinctively caustic, laconic style of humour in some unlikely places

Sep 12, 2022•51 min

The greatest air race: twenty planes, London to Melbourne, 1934

Early aviation's most dramatic event saw courage, tragedy and a miraculous rescue involving the whole town of Albury (R)

Sep 09, 2022•51 min

A league of their own — Breeanna Brock and the AFLW

Right up until the very first game, Women's CEO at the Brisbane Lions, Breeanna Brock wasn't sure that the women's league would ever become a reality

Sep 08, 2022•53 min

Sam's education in grit

Sam Vincent was a struggling writer when a freak accident led him to unexpectedly take over his family's farm

Sep 07, 2022•53 min

Simon Longstaff and the ethics of everything

As a boy, Simon Longstaff's life was changed by one of the most searing ethical dilemmas imaginable (R)

Sep 06, 2022•53 min

Professor Kelvin Kong and the secret world of the human ear

Professor Kelvin Kong is one of Australia's leading ENT surgeons. The proud Worimi man changes the course of children's lives by looking inside their ears.

Sep 05, 2022•54 min

Sailing solo around Antarctica

Lisa Blair navigated waves as tall as high-rise buildings, dodging cargo ships, icebergs and several near-death experiences to sail around Antarctica alone

Sep 02, 2022•55 min

Bush chooks, clever crows, and assassin maggies

Darryl Jones has an enthusiastic curiosity about wild birds that, against all odds, flourish in Australia's cities and towns

Sep 01, 2022•55 min

The rise of the land dragon

Alex Landragin was born into a champagne-making family in the French village of Verzenay. When he was five, his family began a new life in Australia. Then a freak accident changed everything (R)

Aug 31, 2022•51 min

Confronting my grandmother the Baba Yaga

Krissy Kneen grew up under the strict control of her grandmother, Lotty, who was the eccentric and sometimes cruel matriarch of her small family. Krissy was forbidden to investigate Lotty's past or ask why she'd come to Australia from Slovenia via Egypt. The extraordinary truth of Lotty's life could only be told after Lotty's death (R)

Aug 30, 2022•53 min

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