Conversations

Raised in rural Idaho in an extremist Mormon family who forbade her to attend school, Tara studied in secret, and made her way to university

Journalist Masha Gessen on growing up Jewish in the Soviet Union, and her two remarkable grandmothers

Charles Eddy became an expert on rare bleeding diseases after his son Lachie was born with haemophilia

Liz's life before and after netball; and what she had to unlearn to have a baby boy after facing secondary infertility

Robert Fisk has spent his career reporting from war zones, and he's one of the few Western journalists who met Osama Bin Laden in person (R)

Kerry Tucker rewrote her life story from inside maximum security

Historian and angler Anna Clark on the story of fishing in Australia (R)

Peter Venn's imagination was captured by the simple physics of the hovercraft. He turned flying them into a business, but the unusual vehicles still bring him joy

Archaeologist Serena Love on climbing into history in one of the first villages on earth, where the locals lived with de-skulled bodies buried in the floor

Stockbroker Clare Keenan has worked in places ranging from a New Zealand prison, to a covert Jordanian broadcaster. She trusts her fierce survival instinct to keep her safe

Leigh Straw tells the story of Lillian Armfield, arch enemy of serial criminals Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh et al

Jan Becker on her work saving the lives of newborn babies in Sub-Saharan Africa, in 'the golden minute' after birth (R)

Chasing the back beat and adventures in wide open spaces, Rob remains essentially the same as the boy he was

Virginia Lloyd's talent for the piano shaped her early life

Lisa-Ann Gershwin is among the world's foremost jellyfish biologists (R)

Neil James on the Australian soldiers sent to WWI with spurs, a clasp knife and two books of verse

Alan Cockerill explains the revolutionary philosophy of educator Vasily Sukhomlinsky (R)

Young Robert Lukins modelled himself on the fictional character Adrian Mole, a prodigious reader and writer

Marine biologist Micheline Jenner has lived at sea, researching humpbacks, for thirty years

When James Jeffrey's parents split up, his life took on a seismic instability

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

Zoologist Danielle Clode and the story of Australian naturalist, Edith Coleman.Marion Rankine on the history of umbrellas.

Gideon Haigh returns with the story of a shocking crime from bohemian 1930s Melbourne

Geoffrey's sense of social justice saw him become a barrister at the Old Bailey, then a champion for human rights

Kitty Flanagan has woven together a series of true stories from her life including being locked in a crayfish freezer for talking too much

A group of work colleagues cajoled Urzila into performing live on stage for the first time, and kickstarted her unexpected career in comedy

NASA astronomer Jennifer Wiseman on exploring the design of the universe

After a boyhood spent riding the ferries, John Darroch devoted his life to recording their stories

Brian Green explains how the universe is made of strings, vibrating in 11 dimensions (R)

Jack the Insider tells how a union became an elaborate front for murders, standover rackets, drug syndicates and armed robbery

A wide-ranging conversation about the landscapes, physical and imaginary, which inspire one of the world's most prolific authors

Craig Sherborne's childhood was shaped by the social aspirations of his parents

In 2016, psychologist Jordan Peterson unexpectedly became one of the world's most influential thinkers

Circumstances around the plane crash Anna Bartsch and her partner survived in 2012 have become increasingly suspicious

Andrew Wallace flew from Western Australia to New York city, to help the exhausted firefighters of Ladder 24 in mid-town Manhattan

Brendan James Murray on the elusive copper-coloured snake species which terrorised post WWII North Queensland

Helen Elliot was working as a psychologist when she became so ill she was held in a locked psychiatric ward

Can 36 questions lead you to fall in love with a stranger?

Patricia Lockwood's grew up as the daughter of one of America's few married Catholic priests

Kristin Weidenbach on her father's early life in a Methodist-run mining town in South Australia

The photographer, author and art critic on his work and life across cultures

In the midst of training to become a priest, Sarah Sentilles gave up God

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

Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Nikki Stamp reveals how emotional shock can be fatal

Peter Bell's Korean birth mother spent years searching for her son in America. Then she discovered an AFL star living in Perth

A hard working musician explains how he's stayed on the road

Forensic biologist Kirsty Wright spent five months in Phuket, Thailand, leading a DNA team to identify victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami

Australia's first piano disappeared for more than a century. Then pianist and conductor Geoffrey Lancaster launched his own rescue mission

Raised by a side-show operator and a trapeze artist, Fred is now the last boxing tent showman in the world (R)

As a child, Gary Todd testified against his father in court to save his mother's life