Conversations

George Megalogenis thinks that Australia's political leaders should learn from football

Rutger Bregman is calling for new thinking about the kind of world we want to live in

From Antarctica to Arnhem Land, the pages of the books of this prolific author and illustrator are fuelled by adventure

When the Japanese began bombing New Guinea, Peter Phelp's granddad was forced to trek through some of the most rugged terrain on earth, but he wasn't a soldier.

Rick Morton was growing up on a cattle station when his parents split up. His mum was left to raise three children in poverty

Tales ranging from growing up in 70s Queensland, to raising children as a single dadWilliam 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.

Dominic Rowe is asking how common degenerative brain diseases begin

Nic Newling believes sharing his story of living with mental illness will help others

Bruce Hopkins set out to walk the length of New Zealand, with the ashes of his father and brother

In 1975, Ivonne Ranisch’s brother Christoph disappeared from an East German hospital. Her parents now believe he was stolen by the state

At 17, Gail Bell was shot in the back. The shooter was never found

Gwen Cherne has become an advocate for war widows after the death of her husband Pete

Major Paul Moulds and his calling to ‘run a rescue shop within a yard of hell’

Jay Ludowyke has traced the story of RMS Carpathia, from Titanic rescue mission to the bottom of the ocean

Sarah Percy explains the history and motivations of unconventional combatants (R)

Lech Blaine grew up in a large family of foster siblings. When he was ten years old, his childhood ended suddenly (R)

Aminata Conteh-Biger was kidnapped during the Sierra Leone Civil War, and endured months of terror at the hands of rebel soldiers.

Sari Braithwaite is drawn to making films on things we don't like to talk about

Osamah Sami wrote and starred in the hit Australian comedy film Ali's Wedding.

Nepalese surgeon Dr Sanduk Ruit has restored the sight of more than 150 000 people during his career

Tony Sheldon's mum was a major star when he was a child. At 17, he became an actor against her wishes

Playwright Nakkiah Lui was given a crucial early piece of advice: when telling stories, always try to offend your mother (R)

Sarah Brooker was studying to be a neuroscientist, when a freak accident forced her to rebuild her life from the ground up (R)

Michael Kimmelman on why the world's giant cities like Jakarta and Mexico City are slumping into the earth

WWI helped a homeless vagabond named Adolf Hitler become the dictator of the German Reich

Jeremy Gans on the limitations of the jury system, and stories of extreme misbehaviour among jurors

Betty Klimenko grew up as an heiress to the Westfield fortune. Then she turned her back on it all to marry the man of her dreams

Sam worked behind the scenes for Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead (R)

Bob Donely is one of Australia's only vets specialising in the health of budgerigars

When Maria Tumarkin travelled back to her homeland with her daughter, she had high hopes for the journey

Anthropologist Kate Rossmanith asks how our legal system decides if a criminal is truly sorry

Winemaker Will Rikard-Bell's skin needed to be almost entirely rebuilt after a 2008 explosion at a winery in the Hunter Valley

Joy McCann's early fascination with the vast Southern Ocean has become a lifelong passion

Helen Lewis' father Mike filmed the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp

Dr Michael Mosley swallowed a tiny camera to peer into his own gut and its microbiome

Journalist Ben Hills travelled to Sardinia, where locals are three times as likely to live to 100 as anywhere else on earth (R)

As a child, Trent Dalton was a silent observer of the drama of his family and his neighbourhood. He grew up to become an award-winning writer

Jennifer Egan time travels to the New York of WW2

John Marsden's years at a military high school inspired him to buy 850 acres of land to open a very different kind of school of his own

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

Forensic psychiatrist Donald Grant has assessed the mental state of many people charged with murder

Dancer Jenevieve Chang's rebellion (R)

How living between two cultures shaped Sofija Stefanovic

Alison Hoddinott was one of the first Australian women to go to Oxford University. She then returned home to raise her family, and became great friends with the rebel poet, Gwen Harwood

Norman Ohler has unearthed a little-known element of WWII history: the drugs which played a crucial role in the progress and failures of the Nazis (R)

Jill Emberson worked for decades at the heart of social change, and never believed in marriage. But later this year her daughter will walk her down the aisle

At 48, Bill Hayes moved to New York. He took up photography, and fell in love with his neighbour, Dr Oliver Sacks (R)

Gina Perry uncovers the strange story behind a controversial psychological experiment

Dr Tamara Keeley uses reproductive technology to help save rhinos, Tasmanian devils and koalas from extinction

Miriam Lancewood on her daily life roaming the New Zealand bush, hunting possums and goats to survive (R)