Conversations

Dog whisperer Guy Hull on remarkable dogs, from life-saving kangaroo dogs to plane-flying Alsatians (R)

Vickie's met with trouble all through her life, starting with a police record at the age of two. She went on to challenge a Federal law on the rights of prisoners

The late Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke on his life before politics, and his years at The Lodge (R)

Social Researcher Rebecca Huntley on Australia's new political landscape

After two suicides within her family, Jessie returned to Northern NSW to begin again. (R)

Eleanor Gordon-Smith was a 'recovering champion debater' when a night in King's Cross upended her belief in the power of reason

As a young man, Irvine Welsh fell off a double-decker bus and won a tidy sum in compensation. Then he began to write 'Trainspotting'

Tales of drowned towns, pugnacious unionists, terrifying brumbies and a love story in a laundry floor came to light in Siobhan McHugh's history of the Snowy Scheme

Kate has used tragic events in her own life as creative fuel to write more than 25 plays (R)

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

The Sugarbag bees who headbutt their queen to her death are among the many Australian bee species which fascinate ecologist Toby Smith

David Isaacs on the surprising history of human vaccination

On 9/11 Captain Beverley Bass diverted her American Airlines jet to a tiny town in Newfoundland, along with thousands of other airspace refugees

Sarah’s life took a gothic turn as she crafted her version of Melmoth

The Pulitzer Prize winner was working as an odd-jobs man for an Italian Baroness when a phone call upended his life

George Saunders was a knuckle puller in a slaughterhouse and drove a chicken delivery van before he became a writer

Biologist Jodi Rowley has identified 26 new species of frogs in South-East Asia and Australia (R)

The opioid crisis is destroying hundreds of thousands of American lives and Beth Macy has been up close to it

Vicki Laveau-Harvie was estranged from her parents for decades, before she was summoned to their isolated ranch on the Canadian prairies (R)

The epic life story of a First Fleet rebel as told by Meg Keneally

Why Gwen Cherne became an advocate for war widows after the death of her husband Pete (R)

Professor David Walker on the history of the Australia-China relationship

Reflections on what it means to be Australian

Kate Forsyth explores a classic Russian folk tale and delves into the romantic life of the Brothers Grimm (R)

Acclaimed novelist Jennifer Egan dives into the chaos, romance, and hard graft of the old Navy Yards (R)

The real story behind Looking for Alibrandi

Mark led the ABC through a decade of dramatic change. Now he's on a quest for digital minimalism

David Gillespie on how Fortnite and Instagram are altering the neural pathways of a generation

Simon Longstaff's life was changed by one of the most searing ethical dilemmas imaginable

Adventurer Adrian Hayes on what he learned while attempting the world’s second tallest summit

An NRL champion talks candidly about his challenges on the road to football fame

Space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman on the unexpected artefacts of the space age

Duncan McNab on how Australian-born criminal Christopher Wilder became America's most wanted

Mountaineer Neill Johanson was trekking near Everest Base Camp when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the roof of the world

The story of an Austin-driving Australian maverick who died in mysterious circumstances

Donna Duggan fell in love with a Tanzanian man and together they built a safari company

Dominic Rowe is asking how common degenerative brain diseases begin (R)

When archaeologist Dr Jamie Fraser opened an 'empty' Egyptian sarcophagus, he found a 2600 year old mummy of a temple Priestess inside

Crime writer Candice Fox began exchanging letters with a serial killer on death row. Then he asked to meet her in person

An opportunity to further her education while serving time proved the making of Kerry (R)

John Birmingham on rebuilding his life after devastating loss, years after he wrote his 90s cult novel

Paul Gilbert on how our brains are wired for inner conflict and possible cruelty, and what to do about it

Journalist Anton Enus grew up as the son of a professional wrestler, in apartheid-era South Africa

Historian Nick Brodie on how a 1928 adventure on the slopes of Australia's highest mountain went horribly wrong

Chemist and fire scene investigator Niamh Nic Daeid on doing science in the service of justice

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

Sarah Smarsh on the idiosyncratic women who raised her in Kansas

Bob Doneley is one of the only Australian vets specialising in the health of budgerigars (R)

Doctor Munjed Al Muderis on returning to Iraq to operate on soldiers and civilians wounded in the war against ISIS

Thousands of citizens were housed in Melbourne's asylums during the 19th Century, and they received surprisingly humane treatment