Conversations

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

Melanie Lewis is the secret hand behind many wedding ceremonies

From Annie to Sweet Charity, by way of The Voice and Rumour Has It: Naomi on music that's shaped her career so far

Uncovering the little-known history of the late Roman Empire in Serbia

How scars and physical differences affect our idea of human beauty

Margaret Harrod grew up as her father's 'proxy wife'. To escape him, she became a nun, until a chance conversation changed everything

Journalist Sam Vincent on the lingering questions about Canberra's most notorious murder

William’s stories of fatherhood (R)William is one of Australia's best-known storytellers and actors.As his children become adults, he's been reflecting on what it means to be a father.William’s dad was a gregarious character, a veteran of World War II who ran a hire business in Queensland.Despite the many colourful names his father coined for him, William remembers his dad as a very kind man and a loving father.William's been thinking about the memories he's creating in the minds of of his own kids, particularly after the death of his wife some years ago.Further informationFatherhood: Stories about being a dad is published by HachetteListen to Richard's conversation with William McInnes from 2017 on life after the death of his wife, Sarah WattTo 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.

Sarah Brown always wanted to be a remote area nurse. Then she began a medical revolution (R)

How an elusive copper-coloured snake species terrorised post WWII North Queensland (R)

After a bruising experience with her own mother's funeral, Jenny Briscoe-Hough set up a d.i.y. funeral home in an old fire station (R)

Colleen rescued her mum from a violent marriage. Later, she solved one of Australia's most complicated murder cases (R)

How the Men at Work front man managed the trip to mega-stardom and back again (R)

Natalie Millar is at the centre of a 20 000-strong network of mothers in Logan City

Jack Hoysted tells of the violent standover man and extortionist who was the first local criminal to be described by Australian police as a gangster (R)

Mathematician Geordie Williamson spent eight years cracking the code to find the weight of atoms in space

Psychiatrist Robert Kaplan on the strange illness which altered the personality of Bea Miles, making her one of her city's most famous eccentrics

How a Birmingham boy became best-selling thriller writer, Lee Child

Two botanical conversations: plant-hunter Bruce Dunstan, and great gardens with Georgina Reid

Before and after Monty Python's Flying Circus

A guide to the investigation of sudden or unexplained deaths

Steven Bradbury nearly died on the ice when he was 20. Then he won history's most unexpected gold medal (R)

Lisa Millar has reported some of the world's biggest stories, including acts of terrorism, political upheaval, and gun massacres

Jan Owen’s work as a champion of young people has its roots in her own story

A wander through some of the strange habits, rituals and obsessions people have developed around food and eating

Astrophysicist Lisa Harvey-Smith on how Andromeda is due to collide with our galaxy in five billion years time

Historian Paul Ham explains the short life and terrible death of Christendom's most defiant sect

When Johnathan was a boy he was written off as too skinny and too wild for rugby league

How Frauke Bolten-Boshammer raised a farm, a family and a diamond empire from the red dirt of Kununurra

Chris Watson worked alongside David Attenborough for 20 years, pioneering up-close field recording of birds and animals (R)

David began his working life digging ditches, before he found his calling as a writer

Susan Francis was in her 50s when she met Wayne, who became the great love of her life. But their story together didn't turn out as planned (R)

A century ago the little town of Pozieres was known as the worst place on earth

A cave network in France with thousands of signatures, written in pencil by Australian soldiers from the First World War

The story of two men who fought for different sides on the western front, and an unexpected friendship between their descendants

While struggling to conceive her son, Liz faced infertility head on. She found it hard to access reliable information on the subject (R)

Zimbabwean pastor Evan Mawarire inadvertently began a grassroots democracy movement which contributed to the removal of Robert Mugabe

The girl from a Queensland cane farm who became Candy Devine, Northern Ireland's first black radio star

Steph Stephens-Davidowitz says what, how and when we Google is deeply revealing

Lennie Gwyther was 9 years old when he rode Ginger Mick from country Victoria to Sydney to be at the opening of the Bridge (R)

Bernie Shakeshaft was a wild teenager who grew up become a jackeroo and a dingo trapper. Then he began helping kids in trouble

Richard Glover revisits the landscape of his Australian childhood, when parenting was lackadaisical, and avocados were a rarity

Anne has worked in the midst of power on both sides of the Pacific, as a prominent journalist, policy advisor and magazine editor

Veteran reporter Jean Lee did the seemingly impossible from within Pyongyang

After losing both legs to an IED, veteran and Paralympian Dave Henson is applying his unique insight to developing advanced prosthetics

Bruno Guevremont was working in a bomb disposal team in Afghanistan when he was called to dismantle the vest of a live suicide bomber

How a doctor's brave escape led him to Australia, and extraordinary medical advancements for amputees (R)

In 1957, Moreno Giovannoni's family left Tuscany for Australia. Twelve years later they returned to San Ginese, but struggled to make it their home

Exploring the drawings of children who've survived Syria's conflict. Australian artist Ben Quilty has made several visits with World Vision to camps in Greece, Lebanon and Serbia, housing refugees from the Syrian conflict.On his first visit to Lebanon’s Bekka Valley, Ben asked the children there to draw for him.The power of their pictures, expressing what they’d seen before fleeing their homeland, was immediate.Ben has since made a number of visits back to the camps, often holding drawing workshops for the children, and has collated their artwork in a book.Further informationHome: Drawings by Syrian Children is published by Penguin(Proceeds from the book go directly to World Vision's work with children in the Middle East)This conversation was recorded at the Brisbane PowerhouseListen to Ben Quilty's 2014 conversation with Richard FidlerLive events with Ben Quilty and Richard Flanagan (for the School of Life):Melbourne: Wednesday 28 November; Goldfields Theatre, MCEC 7pmSydney: Tuesday 27 November; Wesley Conference Centre 7pmTo 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.

Michelle Garnaut created one of the world's most famous restaurants in Shanghai