Conversations

As a child, Jamie Teh wanted a computer of his own so badly, he used to pretend, using his dad's business calculator. As an adult, he used this obsession to give online access to more than 100,000 blind computer users around the world, for free

Michael Curran met his friend Jamie at a music camp for blind children. Within a few years they had invented a free software to give more than 100,000 blind people around the world the power to use the internetMichael Curran lives on a property north of Brisbane with his wife and their two kids and their menagerie of animals.A few years ago he set up a ground-breaking software company with his childhood friend Jamie.Michael and Jamie are both blind, and the software they developed helps blind people use computers for free.NVDA is a screen reader which puts into spoken words or braille what is on the computer screen.The company now has partnerships with big tech companies like Mozilla, Microsoft and Google.But right from the start Michael and Jamie were committed to keeping their life changing software in the hands of the people who need it most, for free.Further informationDownload the NVDA softwareTo binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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.

The Australian actor and writer measures the major events of his life against big moments in Australian cricket, including the nadir of his performing life when he was cast as an angry chicken

At 100cm tall, Rima is one of the smallest people in the world. But throughout her life, she's demanded to be heard (R)

Dennis Altman is an avowed Australian republican, but he can see the use of constitutional monarchies in times of transition. The question is: do they have the ability to withstand pressure from autocrats?

Kate Legge traces the lives of pioneering naturalists Kate Cowle and Gustav Weindorfer in Tasmania's sublime wilderness (R)

Jess Hill was a teenage magazine founder, a travel writer, a Middle East correspondent and a survivor of serious illness before she wrote her groundbreaking book on domestic violence

Novelist John Grisham with his life story; from his work as a trial lawyer, to writing, and how he became involved in a movement using DNA testing to exonerate the innocent

Abbas Nazari was a 7 year old refugee on a sinking fishing boat in the Indian Ocean when he was rescued by the MV Tampa, just as Australia closed its doors to asylum seekers. After being given a home in New Zealand, Abbas grew up to become a Fulbright scholar

The Mandandanji, Darambal and Wangan woman's career in theatre has taken her from Roma, in outback Queensland, around the world, with a brief break as a guard at a children's hospital

When Ken Henry was starting out in his career, Australia was known as the 'miracle economy'. Economics got inside him and Ken eventually helped the country sail through the 2008 global financial crisis

Linguist Kate Burridge with the story of how Old English began on a small, damp island on the periphery of the world

Harry Bowman tells adventurous tales from his three decades driving tour boats in the crocodile-infested Adelaide River, including the day he saved the life of a croc named Brutus (R)

Elizabeth Osborne with tales of struggle, love and grief from raising her five kids as a single mum, and the moment she saw her youngest, World Champion surfer Mick Fanning survive a shark attack on live TV

Joanne Petersen recalls working as a personal assistant to The Beatles' manager, the freedom of the Swinging Sixties in London and eloping to the Bahamas with a Bee Gee

Nadia Wheatley with the stories of two women ahead of their time: the writer Charmian Clift and her own mother Nina Watkin.Two decades ago, Nadia published her acclaimed biography of the late Australian writer Charmian Clift.Charmian is best known for her memoirs Peel Me A Lotus and Mermaid Singing about her family's poverty-stricken but wildly romantic life on the Greek Islands in the early 50s and 60s.While her husband George Johnston worked on his novel My Brother Jack, Charmian also tried to carve out time to write, while caring for their three children in an old stone house without electricity or running water.Making up for the practical challenges of life on Hydra was the beauty of the sea, and the endless talking and drinking with other expat artists, including Leonard Cohen and his lover Marianne Ihlen.After moving back to Australia, Charmian's life ended tragically after a drunken misadventure.Separating the truth from the mythology which had shrouded Charmian's life and death consumed many years of Nadia's working life.Then a few years ago she began another big project about a woman ahead of her time; her own mother, WWII Australian Army nurse Nina Watkin.Further informationHer Mother’s Daughter, A Memoir is published by TextLearn more about the crowdfunding project for a new documentary about Charmian Clift's lifeThe Life and Myth of Charmian Clift is published by HarperCollinsCharmian Clift's memoirs of her life in Greece, Peel Me A Lotus and Mermaid Singing are published by HarperCollinsSuzanne Chick's Searching for Charmian is published by Melbourne University PressTo binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Samantha Wheeler’s daughter Charlotte has Rett Syndrome, a rare ‘locked-in’ disorder (R)

Much-loved broadcaster and writer Wendy was born with a cleft lip and palate, into a struggling family. As a young journalist she saw an anarchic cabaret show which changed the course of her lifeWendy has enjoyed huge success over four decades as a comedian, tv host, a radio presenter and the author of many books for children and adults.She’s come a very long way from her origins in country Victoria, where she was born with a double cleft lip and palate.Her family moved from town to town, and for a time, because there was no mum around, Wendy had to be the surrogate mum to her younger siblings.After her talent for writing was spotted by a lecturer at Deakin University, Wendy became a cadet journalist at the Geelong Advertiser.Then she moved to the Sun News-Pictorial, and one night in Melbourne, she was sent to review a cabaret show.It was anarchic and funny and she'd never seen anything like it.Wendy decided to go into comedy herself. She bought records of Joan Rivers, Whoopi Goldberg and Woody Allen, and studied their acts.The first night she stood up at an open mic night for her 5 minute set, she knew it was the perfect role for her.She walked out on stage, the lights hit her, and she thought 'I get to say whatever I want and I get paid and people listen? This is the best deal ever!'Soon she was headlining her own shows at the Melbourne comedy venue the Last Laugh, and her life set off on a completely different path.To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

When Dr Catherine Crock saw her young leukemia patients suffering, she knew music would ease their pain, but she didn't know that years later she would be on the receiving end of the healing power of melody

Bronwyn Adcock with the story of one of the most terrifying episodes of Australia’s 2019 Black Summer: the Currowan fire

Meryl Broughton with stories from her work conducting autopsies at a country mortuary (CW: Graphic descriptions)

Robert Pekin lost his family’s 4th-generation farm, and in despair, walked away from everything and into the wilderness. After much soul-searching and trial and error, he developed a new way to link food producers more directly with those who eat the produce (R) CW: mentions suicide

Actor and writer Brendan Cowell with tender and funny tales from his boyhood as a child actor and a budding playwright

The critic on what he has learned from watching 25,000 films, and that time he peed on Federico Fellini

Andrew Wear on how Australia might change in the post-pandemic world

David Heilpern with stories of drama, crime and heartache from his 21 years as a country magistrate (CW: references to drug use and sexual assault)For 21 years David Heilpern was a country magistrate in towns including Dubbo, Brewarrina and Lismore.This meant he was the Coroner, the Children's Court Judge, and the person handling all the domestic violence, assault, robbery, drug and driving offences.The workload was intense, and life on the bench could be lonely. On Monday morning, he might have 90 people lined up outside his courtroom waiting for him to administer justice.During his time in the job David endured death threats, people trashing the courtroom after being refused bail, and some who addressed him as 'Your Majesty'.David was a magistrate well known for his compassion. He would often challenge the police, or stand up for victims of domestic violence.In Dubbo in 1999 he dismissed a charge against a man who allegedly told a policeman holding the handlebars of his bike: 'get your f--king hands off' it.More recently he took a stand over tough drug driving laws in NSW, which see many people lose their licence.David also spoke out during his time on the bench about the vicarious trauma he experienced in having to examine some of society's most terrible crimes.Further informationHelp and support is always available.Lifeline is available for 24 hour crisis support at 13 11 14If this conversation has been difficult to hear you can also contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36 or chat to them via their websiteTo binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Hannah Kent with the true story of the Prussians who fled Europe for a new life in South Australia in 1838, then met a malevolent doctor on board their ship

Megan Phelps-Roper grew up inside the notorious Westboro Baptist Church family. In 2012 she left the church, and her family, to live in the world she once reviled (R)

Deirdre O'Connell with a tale of music, race and a secret militia set in Australia's Jazz Age (CW: discretion is advised when listening)

As a child, ordinary sensations of clothes on her skin made Allison Davies feel as though her life was under threat. She recognised the life-changing power of sound when she became a music therapist — both for herself and others

Kylie Stevenson delves into the story of Paddy Moriarty, who went missing from Larrimah, an outback Northern Territory town known for a weird pink panther in a gyrocopter.

In 1942 three midget submarines armed with torpedoes made their way into Sydney Harbour to launch an attack on Allied warships. They were sent by the Imperial Japanese Navy (R)

Palaeontologist John Long found his first fossil in a Melbourne quarry as a 7 year old. He grew up to unearth new clues as to how we became human, and to the origins of sex

Former narcotics agent, John Shobbrook battled corruption when investigating an audacious plan to air-drop heroin into Far North Queensland in the 1970s

Roland de Chazal is best known for being the 81-year-old motorbike postie on Magnetic Island, but his earlier life in Rhodesia had its moments too — it was there he met the Queen Mother and kept his pet cheetah, Jackals

Judy on life with her late husband, the politician Tim Fischer, and how her son Harrison helped inspire a new beginning on her farm (R)

Stories from Dave Grohl about his life in music, including how he went from being "that guy from Nirvana” to a superstar rock star fronting the Foo Fighters

John Baker on hunting down a cache of rare and impossibly valuable French wine hidden away by Josef Stalin, deep in the Republic of Georgia (R)

Music was always a friend to Ed, but while he struggled to come to terms with being trans, he couldn't face his beloved instruments. Once he accepted himself, his relationship with sound flourished

Monica McInerney with tales from her childhood in a railway family in the South Australian town of Clare (R)

Australia's most famous landscape architect on learning from the garden, Greek school and his Yiayia

Philippe Sands on how a cache of letters sent him on the trail of Nazi war criminal Otto Von Wachter, who escaped to Rome on the 'Ratline' (R)

Designer Jenny Kee with the story of her wild and creative life, including how she and Linda Jackson began a movement which changed Australian fashion (CW: discretion required. Drug references, suicide and content that might be upsetting)

The ABC Sports presenter describes his life at 17, a year dominated by football, girls, beer, and a serial killer stalking his neighbourhood

While they greet one another with soft "woohoos", carefully feed their fat, fluffy babies and bleat at sunset, field naturalist Tanya Loos keeps an eye on the beautiful and ferocious population in her backyard

When an eruption began in 1994 in Papua New Guinea, the last thing singer-songwriter Ngaiire expected was a second volcano to begin spewing ash. Tuning in to the mystery and majesty of PNG has become a lifelong project (CW: Some listeners may find parts of this conversation upsetting. Please use discretion when listening)Throughout her childhood, singing was something Ngaiire did at church, somewhat begrudgingly, because her dad told her to.The singer-songwriter grew up between Palmerston North in New Zealand and her father's home in Rabaul, a volcanic hot spot on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea.As a child, she and her family survived a double volcanic eruption in 1994, and the chain of events that followed pulled Ngaiire to Wenamo, her mother's ancestral home in the Highlands.Amongst the mountains, Ngaiire leaned into quiet spirituality and connected with her ancestors, both living and deceased.Music is a delight and a necessity for Ngaiire, but in the past she tried to separate her Papua New Guinean heritage from her music career in Australia.That changed in 2017 when she made a pilgrimage to her mother's mountain.Further informationSome listeners may find parts of this conversation upsetting. Please use discretion when listening.The following songs have been edited for the podcast:ShiverHim To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Zen priest and writer Ruth Ozeki takes us into world brimming with the voices of people and household objects, and her own experience of hearing her father's voice in her ear after he'd died

David Hepworth charts our fascination with that most earth-bound of gods, the rock star; and discusses some of music history's striking examples (R)

After Isaac Adams returned from Afghanistan struggling with anger and hypervigilance, he found that working with traumatised racehorses was helping him heal

Lynn Rainbow grew up in a castle in one of Australia’s most theatrical families. In the 1970s she became a famous actress, before she began a new life as a philanthropist