When Zoya Patel became besotted with horses as a child, she could never have imagined how they would help shape her life and relationships
Mar 14, 2024•53 min
Shaun Christie-David's parents came to Australia fleeing civil war in Sri Lanka. By age 13, he knew he wanted to be a banker. But life inside the world of money and Maseratis was nothing like he'd imagined Shaun Christie-David's family migrated to Australia during the Sri Lankan civil war. The family's three sons grew up in a house full of home-cooked food and love, with dishes like 48-hour Mudcrab on the menu at Christmas. In 2019, Shaun set up Colombo Social, a restaurant giving jobs to refuge...
Mar 13, 2024•50 min
Marcus Fillinger has taken his military experience and wildlife rescue charity to Ukraine, where, as a civilian, he evacuates abandoned lions, wolves and caracals from active war zones
Mar 12, 2024•50 min
After a dispiriting stint as a Chartered Accountant, Ross found his perfect job: explaining the Australian economy, in plain English, to millions of people
Mar 11, 2024•51 min
As a teenager, Jodi Rodgers got a job as a disability support worker and met a 6-year-old girl who would change her life
Mar 08, 2024•51 min
When Pauline McGrath's husband David was diagnosed with a brain tumour, she supported him as he chose a different path to death (CW: discussion of death and dying)
Mar 07, 2024•54 min
Some of the wildest stories about Roman emperors involve playing the violin while watching the city burn, and appointing a horse as consul. Classicist Mary Beard is fascinated by how much truth there could be to these tales
Mar 06, 2024•53 min
Deeply ashamed of what he had done, Mic Whitty retreated into the Welsh wilderness for almost a year. Eventually an unexpected goal pulled him out of homelessness and back into the world
Mar 04, 2024•52 min
Satu Vanska grew up in Japan as the child of Lutheran Missionaries. When the family moved back to Finland, she felt isolated and alien. But Satu knew she had a ticket out - her violin
Mar 04, 2024•51 min
The podcaster and comedian on her early life in Queensland, where she yearned to wear a coat; lessons from improv comedy; and how eyebrows were the key to finding her biological family (R)
Feb 28, 2024•53 min
As a child Trent was a quiet observer of the drama of his family and his neighbourhood. He became an award-winning writer (R)
Feb 26, 2024•51 min
Brigitte Muir's dream to climb the seven highest mountains on each of the seven continents took much longer and cost her more than she expected, but she also discovered more about herself than she could have imagined
Feb 23, 2024•52 min
Dr Jayashri Kulkarni on her Indian-Australian upbringing and her groundbreaking research into women's hormones and mental health To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversation podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.
Feb 22, 2024•53 min
Federal MP Andrew Leigh is a former professor of economics who is fascinated by how economics can create magic
Feb 21, 2024•52 min
How Jeanne Ryckmans fell for a dashing Irish Professor who was far from what he appeared to be
Feb 20, 2024•52 min
Historian Alison Bashford with the story of the Huxley family, who founded one of the great dynasties of the world
Feb 19, 2024•53 min
Dominic Riley on how a chance encounter with a bookbinding monk named Brother Bede changed the course of his life (R)
Feb 16, 2024•1 min
Australia's storyteller in song on the poems he's loved since childhood, and how reading and learning great poetry has changed his songwriting (R)
Feb 15, 2024•49 min
Artist David Rankin on his turbulent early life as a the son of a bootmaker, his unexpected path into painting, and his passionate love story with writer Lily Brett (R)
Feb 14, 2024•51 min
Sophie Matterson spent five years preparing to cross the Australian continent with five camels she caught and trained herself (R)
Feb 13, 2024•52 min
Nick Clemann is one of Australia's leading lizard experts, but took an unconventional path into research. After working for years as a tradie, Nick plucked up the nerve to go to university, walking into what he thought was territory reserved for the intellectual elite
Feb 12, 2024•51 min
Victoria Vanstone was just 13 years old when she had her first drink, and the booze quickly consumed her. It wasn't until she was in her 30s that Vic realised she needed to do something radical
Feb 09, 2024•53 min
Sue Lowry originally trained as an opera singer, but while living in London she fell in love with teaching children with special needs
Feb 08, 2024•53 min
The actor on the late love of his life, his wife Joan Washington, and the final message she left him (R)
Feb 07, 2024
Dr Kira Westaway has been on a ten-year mission to solve the mystery of how, why and when a giant ape called Gigantopithecus Blacki became extinct, and why nothing remains of this beast but thousands and thousands of teeth
Feb 06, 2024•48 min
Nazeem Hussain honed his comedy in Melbourne's suburbs in the 1990s. After his father left the family, his fearless mother taught Nazeem how to use humour to get bullies off his back To binge even more great episodes of the 'Conversation podcast' with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and ce...
Feb 05, 2024•52 min
Mark Balla was on a business trip to India when he met two young men on a train. They invited him back to see their home, one of the world's biggest slums. This meeting changed the course of Mark's life
Feb 02, 2024•52 min
Dr Ameliah Scott pilots herself around remote NSW to take care of animals and have a cuppa with their owners.
Feb 01, 2024•51 min
As a teenager Adele Dumont started pulling out her hair from the root. Eventually she created a bald spot the size of a 20-cent piece at the crown of her head. Adele would sometimes enter a trancelike state, covertly sitting on her bathroom floor, picking at her scalp for hours on end. The urge to pull at her hair was uncontrollable, and secret. When Adele finally put a name to her behaviour, she learnt that trichotillomania has a complex history and psychological understanding, much of which re...
Jan 31, 2024•48 min
After feeling burnt out, Jackie Carpenter spontaneously applied for NASA's Space Camp. She was the first Australian accepted, and it was the most transformative experience of her life
Jan 30, 2024•47 min
