Conversations

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)

Jonathan Miller on President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs in the Philippines

Mei Fong explains how China's misguided population control scheme rendered it 'too old, too male, and too few' (R)

A freewheeling conversation with the celebrated poet and essayist

After two suicides changed her family forever, Jessie Cole returned to Northern NSW to begin again (CW: Suicide references)Jessie grew up in Northern NSW in a rainforest house lovingly built by her parents. They had moved to the hills outside Byron Bay in the 1970s and believed they could remake the world.Jessie’s father had two older daughters from a previous marriage, who visited from Sydney every school holidays.By the time she was eighteen Jessie had lost both her half-sister Zoe, and her father to suicide.Many people in her small community didn't know what to say to her about what had happened, so they avoided the family altogether.Then in her early 20s, Jessie decided to return to the family home in the rainforest.Further informationStaying is published by TextHelp and information are always availableLifeline 13 11 14 24 hour counsellingSANE Australia - helpline, online, forums 1800 187 263Beyondblue - telephone and online counselling 1300 22 4636Suicide Call Back Service - 24 hours -1300 659 467To 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.

In the midst of her grief, Sarah became aware that hospital negligence led to her mother's death

Hamish Maxwell Stewart from the University of Tasmania has spent his working life deep in the Tasmanian convict archive (R)

Amateur astronomer Greg Quicke was working in Northern Australia, sleeping under the stars in a swag when he bought a second-hand telescope

How three cultures shaped one of our great performing artists

Social researcher Hugh Mackay has some ideas for a more compassionate and socially cohesive Australia

Reflections on a failed campaign to become America’s first female President

In 2014, Stephen Davis went on a rescue mission to northern Nigeria to save the Chibok girls, kidnapped by Boko Haram (R)

Jeremy Heimans was one of the founders of GetUp in 2005. Since then he's been at the forefront of the online movement for social change

Dr Rosemary Laing was Clerk of the Senate for seven years

Katy was described by Donald Trump as disgraceful, a liar, and 'third-rate' during her coverage of his successful Presidential campaign

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

How a shy Mormon girl named Sharon became Poh Ling Yeow. Sharon Ling Yeow grew up in Malaysia, and moved to Adelaide with her parents at the age of 9.She was a shy child, who loved to paint and draw, but found school and socialising overwhelming.At home, her Aunty Kim taught her how to cook Malaysian food, and her mum taught her how to bake.At 16, Sharon joined the Mormon Church, where she met her first husband, Matt.Shortly after they were married, the couple left the church. Matt then encouraged Sharon to take the name Poh, which she'd been given at birth but never used.The couple's marriage didn't last, but their friendship did. Poh had a flourishing career as a painter when she decided to enter a new TV cooking show, Masterchef.In 2009, Poh was named runner-up in the final of the show. She met a man named Jono on the set, and later the two were married.Since then, Poh has continued to paint, and she's opened a cafe called Jamface with Jono, Matt and her best friend Sarah.Further informationPoh Bakes 100 Greats was published by Murdoch Books in November 2017To 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.

Growing up next door to some of Australia's most notorious criminals shaped Patrick Kennedy's family

The story of the 2011 earthquake that triggered multiple disasters in Japan, and took many thousands of lives

Annie Raser-Rowland's adventurous life as a weed forager and free thinker