Conversations

Wildlife biologist Jonathan Slaght on his adventurous quest to save the rare, shaggy fish owls of Russia's Far East

John Birmingham found himself rebuilding his life years after the devastating loss of his father (R)

Ben on his musical career, the art of song writing and his brief stint as a one-man polka band in a German restaurant (R)

A cat, a hawk, a monkey, a crow and a lop-eared rabbit: animals who walked into the lives of five people leaving the humans to wonder, 'What am I to this creature?'

At sixteen, Alannah fled Tasmania and a traumatic past. In Melbourne, she began her wildly distinctive fashion label, which became an empire. Then the empire fell apart, and she began again (CW: Sexual Assault)

Nick Bryant reports from New York for the BBC. It's a city he's loved since his first visit in the 1980s. Now when he looks at the USA he wonders if the nation's decline is irreversible

Tim continues his epic three-year adventure on horseback across the Eurasian Steppe, in this episode journeying from Kazakhstan all the way to Hungary (R)

Tim's epic journey across the Eurasian Steppe on horseback, in the style of the Mongol nomads, took him three years (R)

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

Mary Li was a star ballerina when she fell in love with Li Cunxin, her dance partner at the Houston Ballet. When their daughter Sophie was born profoundly deaf, Mary walked away from dance for many yearsMary Li says she was the least likely girl to grow up to be a ballerina.She grew up in a family of eight kids in the rough and tumble of the Queensland country town of Rockhampton.But in a little timber hall, with cattle trains rolling by outside, Mary discovered a talent for dance.That talent, and a huge amount of hard work and family support took her to the Royal Ballet School in London at sixteen.She then became the principal dancer with the London Festival Ballet, then the Houston ballet.There in Houston Mary fell in love with her dance partner Li Cunxin.Li had also come a long way from his home in rural China, defecting to the U.S. as an adult and then becoming an internationally celebrated dancer.In Houston Li and Mary married and had their first child, a beautiful daughter named Sophie.But when Sophie was 16 months old their lives were turned upside down.Mary became a household name when her husband Li Cunxin published his bestselling memoir, Mao's Last Dancer - but that book told only half the story. This conversation dives deeper.Further informationMary's Last Dance is published by PenguinTo 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.

Yosemite’s most punishing climb is the 3000ft sheer face of El Capitan mountain called the Dawn Wall. Tommy grew up exploring Yosemite and in 2015 he and his partner Kevin Jorgeson became the first to free-climb the wall(R)

The most audacious sports cheats aren't always elite athletes. Titus O'Reily takes a look at the ignoble art of winning by breaking, or bending, the rules

Richard's family story is hard to beat in a game of who has the strangest parents. The Sydney broadcaster began to understand more about his eccentric mother when he met a clutch of relatives he didn't know he had (R)

Fiona’s alcoholism took her a long time to acknowledge and cost her a great deal. In recent years she’s been reckoning with all that’s happened since she joined the comedy circuit and its culture of heavy drinking, as well as how she wants to live now

When Annabel Bower’s fourth child Miles was stillborn, she decided to begin to break the silence around stillbirth and miscarriage

Peter Stojanovic was working in a Melbourne meatworks when a spiritual epiphany led him to a new life, working with violent men to help change their thinkingPeter Stojanovic's family fled their tiny town in the former Yugoslavia because of religious persecution.Under the community regime, life was a struggle and after Peter's father became a Christian it became dangerous.Borders were closed to the outside world, but the family hatched a daring plan to escape.After they came to Australia, Peter soon joined the rest of his family working in the meatworks at Altona in Melbourne.But life was pulling him in other directions.After he got the 'spiritual bug' himself, he became a pastor in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, then a marriage counsellor.Now he helps men convicted of Domestic Violence offences by the court to work on changing their behaviour and their thinking.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.

During Australia's worst bushfires Cate Tregellas and her family were forced to evacuate their home in Mallacoota and retreat to the local wharf as fire closed in. That long, terrifying night was a New Year's Eve they'll never forget. This is an episode of Days Like These, a new ABC podcast

Lach McClymont mustered hundreds of wild cattle, untouched for decades, from a remote area of the Northern Territory (R)

Cathy McGowan never imagined a future for herself as a politician. So when she became Federal Member for Indi she began doing politics very differently

Ajay is an obstetrician and urogynecologist who grew up in rural India. His father, born to one of India’s lowest classes, was also a surgeon — an improbable career that was the brainchild of Ajay’s grandmother, and funded by a whole village

When Lamorna Ash began to explore her Cornish ancestry she started work on a rusty yellow fishing trawler called the Filadelfia, scaling fish, gutting them and hauling in the nets

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

From painkiller addiction to parliament, Jacqui's life has been a rollercoaster (R)

Epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws on life during COVID-19, the virus she classifies as both vulnerable and ruthless

Robert built a whole life out of things which sparked his curiosity, whether they were languages, people or places. But when he met his birth mother in middle age, she didn't approve of his choices

Demystifying the art of talk therapy and the complex relationship between therapist and patient (R)

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

Becardiganed polymath Robin Ince on the fascinating brains of stand-up comics (R)

Jimmy Barnes grew up as a boy called James Swan in Glasgow, then in South Australia. In his late teens, he joined a band called Cold Chisel and became a huge star. But on and off stage Jimmy was battling the demons of his troubled childhood

Cookbook author Hetty McKinnon was raised by a mum who was a passionate and creative cook. But Hetty was never particularly interested in cooking herself, until something happened as she grew up which changed everything

How one of the world's most influential crossword setters became increasingly interested in the science behind them (R)

Richard Flanagan on writing his apocalyptic novel on a remote island, as bushfires burned through Tasmania's forests

Television presenter Kumi Taguchi's story of searching for her Japanese heritage began with searching for her grandparent's house in Tokyo, which none of her relatives had visited for decades (R)

Monica McInerney grew up in a family of railway children, as her Dad was the stationmaster in the tiny South Australian town of Clare. At 16, she left home to work as Humphrey B. Bear's wardrobe designer. Years later, she made a new life in Ireland and became a best-selling writer

Jacinta Parsons was in her 20s when she became horribly unwell with Crohn's disease, a chronic disease of the digestive system. Then, doctors gave her the news she feared most

How Sophie Townsend kept on, after losing her beloved husband to a sudden illness

John Safran had a personal interest in the death of white supremacist, Richard Barrett. What he discovered when digging into the case revealed more than Barrett himself ever did (R)

Durkhanai Ayubi and her family keep alive the stories and flavours they carried to Australia from Afghanistan, in the dining room of their 'accidental' and thriving restaurant

Wil Patterson was a suburban dad who wanted all the good things in life for his family. Then he made a decision which upended everything

Helen was working as a psychologist when she became so ill she was held in a locked psychiatric ward. There she was given ECT, one of the most extreme treatments for depression (R)

Zenith Virago married at seventeen, and had two children. Then she left her young family to create a life of her own on the other side of the world (R)

When Akmal and his wife decided to have a treechange by moving to Byron Bay, almost immediately a comedy of errors ensued, involving a python in the roof, a half-finished home and rats in the wall (R)

How the man who voiced Darth Vader and Mufasa overcame a childhood stutter to build a career on his rich, resonant voice (R)James grew up with a stutter so severe he was almost mute until the age of fourteen.After the intervention of an English professor, he went on to become one of his generation's finest stage and screen actors.James is famous for his roles in films like The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and The Great White Hope.He is the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars series and of Mufasa in The Lion King.James toured Australia in a production of Driving Miss Daisy (with Angela Lansbury) in 2013.Further informationOriginal broadcast February 2013To 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.

Dave looks back on the many forms of employment and unemployment to have sustained him as a hard working musician (R)

In the late 70s, Gabrielle Carey co-wrote a blisteringly honest novel about the real lives of teenage surfie chicks in Cronulla which caused a storm of public outrage. What happened next saw her make a new life far from the limelight

Why the only remaining WW1 German A7V tank is in Brisbane, Australia (R)

A new conversation with James Rebanks on how he saved his family farm by returning to ancient ways of growing crops and meadows

Lisa Woollett's family made their living from combing through London's waste for treasures. Her great-grandfather was a scavenger and her grandad was a dustman, and as she grew up she also began mudlarking on the Thames

When they were kids, Stephen and his brothers would climb onto the laundry roof and put on a show for their neighbourhood. Stephen's since made an exceptional career as a dancer, and at the helm of Bangarra Dance Theatre (R)

Grace Karskens with the story of the riverlands of the Hawkesbury-Nepean, where ancient and modern Australia first collided