Conversations

Ben grew up in a Glasgow housing estate, then married, went to University and made a life for himself as a musician. But some years later, he was homeless (R)

Kyle was a 55-year old children's author and husband when she began living her truth as a trans woman

Lynne Kelly became a senior memory champion after she began researching ancient ways of transforming landscapes, objects and the human body into 'memory palaces.'

After years teaching in the remote Northern Territory, Julie began to trace her ancestry among the Darug people around the Hawkesbury River. Her most recent novel was written in response to Kate Grenville's The Secret River

'Love on the Spectrum' star Jodi Rodgers on her life as a sexologist and relationship counsellor for people with Autism, and her unexpected chapter in reality TV

Alexandra Seddon with the story of her aristocratic Russian family and their legacy, which helped her found a wildlife refuge for potoroos, koalas, snakes and kangaroos (CW: childhood abuse, historic suicide)

Parenting educator and retired psychologist Steve Biddulph was in his 50s when a chance conversation over lunch shifted almost everything about how he saw himself

Physiotherapist Sky Fosbrooke’s stint as a volunteer health worker led to a deep attachment to the people of a small South Santo village (R)

The screenwriter and showrunner on writing television drama, her struggles with mental health, and how her time in psychiatric hospitals inspired the acclaimed ABC TV drama series Wakefield (CW: drug references and suicidal ideation. Please use discretion when listening)

By uncovering the complicated history of her grandfather, Carolinda Witt also gained a sizeable extended family (R)

From working in a bank and behind a bar, to rowing solo across an ocean, the story of Michelle Lee’s remarkable transformation and the voyage which made her an Australian Geographic Adventurer of the Year

Two separate stories today: bakery tales from Judith Anderson whose family history is intertwined with Warwick's bread trade. Then, Bruce Munday who fell in love with building dry stone walls, then began to delve into their history

Kristin Weidenbach on her father's early life in Moonta, a Methodist-run mining town in South Australia (R)

A broadcasting veteran, Bob spent 70 years on air, hosting TV shows as well as topping the radio ratings in Sydney. In 1964 he was sent to London to join The Beatles on their only Australian tour

Hugh Mackay believes humans are ‘hardwired’ to behave kindly. He returns to the program to talk about how his early-pandemic prophecies on community, loneliness, and resilience have played out

Writer Susan Orlean on the enduring mystery of who set fire to the Los Angeles Central Library (R)

Anthony Venn-Brown was a gay teenager when he gave his life to God. He tried to destroy his sexuality by exorcism and 'gay conversion' therapy before he became a rock star Pentecostal preacher. Then everything came crashing down

Anne Poelina, the daughter of a Timorese pearl diver and an Indigenous mother, has always been drawn back to her home town of Broome (R)

Jason Yat-sen Li on how his family story, marked by war, migration and knighthoods, and his own working life helped him embrace the complexities and contradictions of modern China

High school English teacher, Brendan James Murray with funny, heartbreaking, inspirational and strange tales from his working life

Donna Duggan fell in love with a Tanzanian man and together they built a safari company, before an accident changed everything (R)

Louise Pryke returns with a cultural history of turtles. With stories ranging from ancient times to modern day, and from turtle tears to Al Capone, Lou attempts to understand why they are such a widely-loved creature

Arthur made his name escaping from a locked 44-gallon drum in a pool of pool of sharks. His death-defying escapes in the late 1970s earned him the title of 'Australia's Houdini', and he was magician in residence at the Magic Castle on the Gold Coast. At 89 years of age he is still performing

While confined to hospital with a rare form of tuberculosis, Christiaan found love and an entirely new path (R)

Working as a deckhand on a fishing trawler became the refuge Kathryn Heyman needed from the wreckage of her early life. Hitchhiking to Darwin, then working in the Timor Sea, far from her old life, helped her remake herself (CW: Sexual assault)

Paul is a musician, author and performer best known for his comedic alter-ego, Flacco. In recent years he's joined an eclectic band of people who ring the bells at his local church tower in inner Sydney. He's also been working as a volunteer, listening to and writing down the stories of people at the end of their lives

Jessica is an orchestral conductor and also a synesthete who 'sees' colour in her mind's eye. As an organ virtuoso she performed in some of Europe's great cathedrals. When forced to retire, Jessica re-trained as a conductor, making her debut at the BBC Proms. Australian born, she returns often, to work with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra

Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Nikki Stamp reveals how emotional shock can be fatal (R)

One of the foremost historians of black and white Australia, Henry says now is the time to acknowledge how the country was founded. Frontier violence, the myth of peaceful settlement, and the failure of the British to make treaties with the First Nations have led to consequences we still live with today (CW: material might be distressing to ATSI listeners)When Henry moved to Townsville to teach history in 1965, there were almost no mentions of Aboriginal people in the core Australian history textbook.He soon began his life's work of studying the intersection between settlers and Australia's First Nations and was shocked to discover the gaping holes in the country's story. He found that even at the time Australia was claimed by the British, it was seen as legally shoddy and morally dubious. He says the British messed up the colonisation of Australia by not making treaties with the First Nations, and that we're still living with the consequences of frontier violence today.(CW: material might be distressing to ATSI listeners. Please use discretion.)Further informationTruth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement is published by NewSouthTo 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.

One of the foremost historians of black and white Australia, Henry says now is the time to acknowledge how the country was founded. Frontier violence, the myth of peaceful settlement, and the failure of the British to make treaties with the First Nations have led to consequences we still live with today (CW: material might be distressing to ATSI listeners)

Gastroenterologist Andrew Bryant's active, social and positive exterior gave no hint of the depression he was suffering. Days after his tragic death his wife Susan wrote an email making it clear she and her adult children were not ashamed of the way he died. It went viral (CW: suicide)

Allen Murphy was raised in New York and grew up to become a drummer for The Village People. When he arrived in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory he fell in love with Indigenous culture and music, and knew he'd found home (CW: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that this episode includes the name of a person who has died.)

Dale Kent is a Professor of Italian history who grew up in Australia. Rejecting her Christian Science upbringing, Dale forged an unapologetic life of her own design. She lived and worked in Europe and then in the US where she taught at the University of California for 25 years

Dennis Van Someren works as a transport volunteer with young people going to visit a parent in the prison system. Dennis does the work because he's been in their shoes (R)

Kel Richards with the story of the gentleman thief James Hardy Vaux, who wrote Australia's first dictionary of convict slang

Margie's car is loaded with ultrasounds, milk crates and angle grinders: all things needed when tending to seven ft camels in the middle of nowhere (R)

When Sarah Sentilles became a foster parent she gave herself wholeheartedly to caring for baby Coco. A year later her understanding of love, motherhood and herself were utterly transformed (CW: Adoption)

Glenn was working at Enron in London when his mental health began to unravel. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and lost nearly everything. Then a Bowls Club in Queanbeyan helped him begin again

Kitty has woven together a series of true stories from her life including being locked in a crayfish freezer for talking too much (R)

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

Sarah was twenty-seven when she discovered she had been conceived using a sperm donor. When she set out to find her biological father, she found out the truth about the global fertility business

Physician scientist Professor John Rasko on some of the charlatans and shining lights from the problematic and often tragic field of regenerative medicine. Long regarded as a coming salvation, the full potential of stem cells is yet to be realised. John de-mystifies our understanding of the science and explains why there's reason for hope

Animal behaviourist Gisela Kaplan grew up in devastated post-WWII Berlin, forced to eat soap and wild nettles to survive. A brilliant student who loved music, she trained as an opera singer and an academic. Decades later, after adopting a magpie nestling, she began a new chapter as one of the world's leading authorities on the lives of Australia’s native birds

Betty O'Neill's father disappeared when she was a baby. Decades later, inside a tiny apartment in the Polish city of Lublin she opened a green suitcase to find a huge clue to his secret lifeBetty O'Neill grew up in country New South Wales with her mum Nora.Nora worked in hotels in Kyogle and Coffs Harbour, and because she wasn't able to live at the hotels with her mum, Betty was often fostered out to families in the local area.Nora was what was known in the 1950s as a 'deserted wife'.Her husband Antoni had disappeared without a trace shortly after Betty was born.As a girl Betty knew very little about her father.She finally met him again when she was nineteen, and it was a strange and unsettling experience.Decades later, Betty became curious about her father's life story.She began an investigation which took her to Lublin, Poland, a city where she didn't know anyone, to finally uncover the truth.Further informationThe Other Side of Absence is published by VenturaTo 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.

Historian Paul Ham and the story of the terrible 'wearing down war' that took place in Ypres (R)

The story of the 2011 earthquake that triggered multiple disasters in Japan, and took many thousands of lives, as told by Richard Lloyd Parry (CW: descriptions may be distressing) (R)

Ronnie looks back on the ten years she worked as a police officer; the childhood which shaped her, and pays tribute to the guiding strength of her proud Aboriginal father (CW: family violence)

Lacking the patience required to work on a dictionary, Helen turned her abiding interest in language into the subject of a highly successful podcast. Her search for curious and revealing stories about language has taken her around the world (R)

Jared spent his childhood behind the scenes at the Museum of the Northern Territory, up close to prehistoric kangaroo fossils, opulent trading pearls, and sacred crocodiles flown in from Arnhem Land. Then he became the museum's taxidermist (R)

New York-based Australian writer Lily Brett moved her family to Shelter Island during the pandemic. There she's found a different speed of life and been adjusting to the absence of her late father. Now in her 70s, Lily's also been thinking about what it means to be old