Conversations

By ABC listen

Listen to a podcast, please open Podcast Republic app. Available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Image by ABC listen

Category: Relationships

Open in Apple Podcasts


Open RSS feed


Open Website


Rate for this podcast

Subscribers: 4108
Reviews: 11
Episodes: 217

Calum
 Jun 1, 2024

Harry
 Oct 25, 2021


 May 9, 2021


 Aug 17, 2020


 Jul 18, 2020

Description

Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met. Journey into their world, joining them on epic adventures to unfamiliar places, back in time to wild moments of history, and into their deepest memories, to be moved by personal stories of resilience and redemption. Hosted by Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski, Conversations is the ABC's most popular long-form interview program. Every day we explore the vast tapestry of human experience, weaving together narratives from history, science, art, and personal storytelling. Whether it's an exploration of Australian and American politics, the intricacies of mental health, or the mysteries of ancestry and origin stories, our episodes offer a conversational approach that brings topics to life. We uncover epic tales of war and peace, the complex dynamics of relationships and family, and the profound impact of grief and loss. Follow Conversations for thought-provoking discussions, heartfelt stories, and a deeper understanding of the world around us. Conversations explores the meaning of life, history, relationships, motherhood and fatherhood, love, religion and the origins of human life through a contemporary and conversational Australian lens. From distinctive accounts of crime, mental health, ancestry, cults, grief, family and parenting, to discussions about science, books, art, music, war, spies and economics, Conversations traverses myriad topics. Our interviews focus on pioneers of the natural world, wildlife, oceans, fungi, archaeology, palaeontology and megafauna. Our guests speak about geopolitics, being a refugee and the experience of migration. They come from all walks of life — First Nations, Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander peoples, CALD communities and ancestors of Australia's first fleeters. We explore Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Buddhist, Sikh and Hindu faith traditions, among other beliefs, including atheism. We look at social history as well — close encounters with the ancient world, the Stolen Generations, and adventurers on an explorative odyssey. In a Conversations interview, you will hear personal stories of secrets, lies, adoption, and living with disability, neurodiversity or chronic illness. We traverse a person's life story, full of human interest topics, including redemption, love at first sight, spirituality, poverty, having children, family dynamics and even hidden families. We hear from individuals who have struggled with drug addiction, jail, family violence, political imprisonment, persecution, abuse, depression, anxiety and mental health issues. Conversations also speak to the public figures of Australian and international society — leaders, artists, politicians, authors, sports stars, actors and musicians. A writer, a builder, a neurologist, a Paralympian, an Olympian, an amputee, a historian, a comedian, a funeral director, a bird photographer, an ethicist, a doctor, a spy, a pilot, a choreographer, a firefighter, a bookseller, an astrophysicist, a martial artist, a principal, an oud virtuoso, an ecologist, a carer, a demographer, a chess master, a forensic archaeologist, a biologist, a chef, a surfer, a button shop owner, a costume and set designer, a boxer, a drummer, a conductor, a dog behaviourist, an AFL player, a longevity expert, a barber, a Matilda, and a psychologist have all appeared on our program. Stories make us who we are. Join Conversations for an hour of diverting listening, to transport, touch and uplift you. Our guided storytelling will teach you something new, introduce you to someone extraordinary and take you away to a different place or time in history. After almost 20 years of digging into the lives, stories and worlds of thousands of people, Conversations continues as the ABC's most popular podcast, providing Australians with a social history of our country and paying close attention to the small, personal details that make up a life.

Episode Date
Arnhem Land to Everest — surviving worst case scenarios in the wilderness
Oct 15, 2024
I was a political prisoner in Myanmar — and I could never hate the Burmese
Oct 14, 2024
The coal miner's daughter and the bride stripped bare
Oct 11, 2024
A Sri Lankan hotel, a Harlem nightclub and orgasm-induced amnesia — Dasha Ross' epic adventures
Oct 10, 2024
Prostate cancer, testosterone and Tim Baker's masculinity
Oct 09, 2024
Obsessive-compulsive disorder and how Penny loosened its anxiety-inducing grip
Oct 08, 2024
Melbourne's seedy underbelly and the gangsters who run the joint
Oct 07, 2024
Play School's Noni Hazlehurst — Australia's TV mum
Oct 04, 2024
Kasey Chambers on how not to be a d***head
Oct 03, 2024
Into the wild with Gina Chick
Oct 02, 2024
Shakespeare's stories aren't boring — we are teaching them wrong way
Oct 01, 2024
How Tolstoy and Chekhov schooled George Saunders on life's great lessons
Sep 30, 2024
The unexpected plot twist: how a solo hiker stayed alive after shattering her pelvis in Joshua Tree National Park
Sep 27, 2024
The unexpected plot twist: the story of how suicide survivor Oceane, who became a beloved midwife
Sep 26, 2024
The unexpected plot twist: The story of Toni Jordan's lucky life
Sep 25, 2024
The unexpected plot twist: The tech nerd who changed course to help the homeless
Sep 24, 2024
The unexpected plot twist: From the David Jones food hall to Opera Australia
Sep 23, 2024
An odyssey across Australia — how 11,000 sheep were walked from Victoria into the outback
Sep 20, 2024
Antibiotic resistant superbugs and how to fight them
Sep 19, 2024
A life spent making — ‘Mr Millimetre’s’ memories
Sep 18, 2024
Fish sperm sausages, and eyeball icecream: the Josh Niland story
Sep 17, 2024
The architects of ancient Arabia – speaking to the sky
Sep 16, 2024
The epic highs and lows of Ji's life on the trampoline
Sep 13, 2024
Treating dementia — a new way of caring for the elderly
Sep 12, 2024
The story of James Earl Jones, and his legacy
Sep 11, 2024
Epic sharks — the ancient origins of the monsters of the sea
Sep 10, 2024
Words of love — writing stories of Aboriginal land
Sep 09, 2024
My brother's death — writing the story of a family's grief and loss
Sep 06, 2024
Quitting alcohol – the story of how Seana got sober
Sep 05, 2024
How dogs think — and what they think of us
Sep 04, 2024
My Stolen Generations story: how Brenda was taken from her family, twice
Sep 03, 2024
The story of the melancholy spy
Sep 02, 2024
The psychedelic revolution — how MDMA mended Rebecca's mind
Aug 30, 2024
Smuggled out of Wewak — Carolyn's dramatic escape from Papua New Guinea
Aug 29, 2024
When the pirate got paid on the island of Corfu
Aug 28, 2024
The spark that saw Andy become solar-powered
Aug 27, 2024
The sprawling history of the human soul — part two
Aug 26, 2024
The trailblazing papergirl, lawyer and playwright
Aug 23, 2024
My aunt was smuggled to Tashkent by Stalin
Aug 22, 2024
Heavenly beings: the icon paintings of Michael Galovic
Aug 21, 2024
Dave Gleeson needs a damn good lie down
Aug 20, 2024
The sprawling history of the human soul — part one
Aug 19, 2024
The Natural Horseman
Aug 16, 2024
The woman who was lucky in love
Aug 15, 2024
The farm that Carol built
Aug 14, 2024
Mummy bundles, fossils and DNA
Aug 13, 2024
'More than cheesecake' — humanity's shared musical history
Aug 12, 2024
Conversations Gold: The silver medal that changed Laurie Lawrence
Aug 09, 2024
Conversations Gold: Jana Pittman's turning point
Aug 07, 2024
Conversations Gold: Paralympian Christie Dawes is super/normal
Aug 05, 2024
Conversations Gold: The life of Anna Meares
Aug 02, 2024
Conversations Gold: Lisa Curry on winning gold and losing Jaimi
Jul 31, 2024
Conversations Gold: Patrick Johnson's golden run
Jul 29, 2024
Bruce McAvaney — what a legend, what a champion
Jul 26, 2024
Louise Kennedy on Belfast, bombs and a disastrous pav
Jul 25, 2024
It's 'all sweet' for Tony Armstrong
Jul 24, 2024
Lele's home under the Morning Star
Jul 23, 2024
Tidying up the crematorium
Jul 22, 2024
PRESENTS — I Was Actually There | The Boxing Day tsunami 2004
Jul 20, 2024
The many magnificent, mysterious faces of Monte Punshon
Jul 19, 2024
Winnie Dunn — the first
Jul 18, 2024
The power and determination of Nas Campanella
Jul 17, 2024
The megadeath of megafauna
Jul 16, 2024
Sketchbooks, ghosts and a lost sister
Jul 15, 2024
The BMW of standup comics
Jul 12, 2024
The tin hut that's still standing
Jul 11, 2024
Bindi — always looking forward
Jul 10, 2024
Nardi Simpson on Crocodile Country
Jul 09, 2024
Ken Wyatt - the Noongar boy who made history
Jul 08, 2024
Surviving Pinochet, living for art
Jul 05, 2024
Married at the Wayside Chapel
Jul 04, 2024
Beyond the hills and into the mountains
Jul 03, 2024
Finding home on the Tooraweenah Aerodrome
Jul 02, 2024
Risking everything
Jul 01, 2024
Disaster specialist Lucy Easthope
Jun 28, 2024
Ben Lee: chutzpah mystic
Jun 27, 2024
The ferryman from life to death
Jun 26, 2024
Life and death in the holy city
Jun 25, 2024
Like oil and water
Jun 24, 2024
Pack ice, seal fat and the big slide: Tim and Ernest's incredible journey
Jun 21, 2024
How Leila saw birds anew
Jun 20, 2024
Avani Dias on the rise of Narendra Modi
Jun 19, 2024
The beauty of the brain
Jun 18, 2024
Michael Theo's childhood dream
Jun 17, 2024
The strange true tale of the tattooed arm regurgitated by a shark
Jun 14, 2024
The girl who turned her head away
Jun 13, 2024
Free will, liberty and Aristotle in the animal kingdom
Jun 12, 2024
Michael Mosley’s legacy: empowering science for the everyday
Jun 11, 2024
The 700-room nightmare
Jun 10, 2024
Tabletop, Spank, and Spycraft
Jun 07, 2024
The charming Italian narcissist
Jun 06, 2024
Nick Bryant's America: polarised forever
Jun 05, 2024
Psyche, the curious and brave goddess of the soul
Jun 04, 2024
The secret psychosis of a first-time mother
Jun 03, 2024
Japanese gangsters: the secrets of the Yakuza
May 31, 2024
Bonnie Garmus on becoming a global phenomenon in her 60s
May 30, 2024
David Wengrow: everything we know about the human story is wrong
May 29, 2024
Matt Hall's life at supersonic speed
May 28, 2024
The forgotten treasures of desert dwellers
May 27, 2024
Billy Bragg — the boy from Barking
May 24, 2024
How Rafael Bonachela let his inner showgirl out
May 23, 2024
The power of the extra dad
May 22, 2024
Bronnie and the jaws of life
May 21, 2024
Riding for a fall
May 20, 2024
The velveteen rabbit at the end of the world
May 17, 2024
A Latvian Fairytale
May 16, 2024
Naomi and the smudge of luminous stars
May 15, 2024
Sean Fong dominating life on the jiu-jitsu mat
May 14, 2024
The highs and lows of the ALP
May 13, 2024
Troy Cassar-Daley: the boy from Halfway Creek
May 10, 2024
When Bonnie just kept paddling
May 09, 2024
Uncovering Tasmania's gruesome past
May 08, 2024
Fantastic and fascinating fungi
May 07, 2024
Chris Haywood's life in character
May 06, 2024
The soup bar saving lives
May 03, 2024
How our brains use autocorrect
May 02, 2024
Nick Cave's broken-hearted optimism
May 01, 2024
Terry's long goodbye
Apr 30, 2024
Learning to read with Manisha Gazula
Apr 29, 2024
Mother Courage
Apr 26, 2024
ANZAC Day: letters from the front
Apr 24, 2024
How Rhonda defied expectations
Apr 24, 2024
Dr Sutapa Mukherjee on how to sleep well
Apr 23, 2024
Ray and the great language recovery
Apr 22, 2024
Theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama on making peace and living in poetry
Apr 19, 2024
Carly-Jay on dying, living, and learning to breathe
Apr 18, 2024
A portrait of Peter Dutton
Apr 17, 2024
The secret life of slime mould
Apr 16, 2024
Bettany Hughes takes you to the hottest sightseeing spots of the ancient world
Apr 15, 2024
Finding a new version of family
Apr 12, 2024
Louise Milligan on justice, family and Ireland
Apr 11, 2024
Tom Gleeson: the hard man of Australian comedy
Apr 10, 2024
Jellyfish, sharks, grease and goggles: the life of a marathon swimmer
Apr 09, 2024
The strange origins of our immense oceans
Apr 08, 2024
When the family circus comes to town
Apr 05, 2024
Glennon Doyle's untamed life
Apr 04, 2024
Ayesha is not an escape artist
Apr 03, 2024
How Bri Lee became an incendiary
Apr 02, 2024
Family folklore: spies, secrets and suffering
Apr 01, 2024
Jane Fonda - writing her own script
Mar 29, 2024
Joseph Tawadros – from Egypt with love
Mar 28, 2024
Crime scenes, lost wallabies, and coal-covered possums
Mar 27, 2024
The secret world of servos after dark
Mar 26, 2024
Va — the sacred space between us
Mar 25, 2024
Anton Clifford-Motopi on finding his full name
Mar 22, 2024
On birds, fathers and fairy possums
Mar 21, 2024
The death on the pitch which changed Andy's life
Mar 20, 2024
Jarvis Cocker and the Pulp master plan
Mar 19, 2024
Sex, law, and life on Mars
Mar 18, 2024
From Yale to psychiatric prison: the undoing of a brilliant friend
Mar 15, 2024
Zoya Patel on horses and homecoming
Mar 14, 2024
Shaun's giving heart
Mar 13, 2024
Rescuing the forgotten animals of war
Mar 12, 2024
How Ross Gittins found his calling
Mar 11, 2024
Jodi Rodgers on loving our neurodiversity
Mar 08, 2024
Death, with love and dignity
Mar 07, 2024
Mary Beard's Roman Empire
Mar 06, 2024
Mic's way out of the woods
Mar 04, 2024
Satu Vanksa on faith, love and music
Mar 04, 2024
Guilty feminist Deborah Frances-White
Feb 28, 2024
Trent Dalton on life before Boy Swallows Universe
Feb 26, 2024
Brigitte and the seven peaks
Feb 23, 2024
Jayashri Kulkarni: our hormones and our minds
Feb 22, 2024
From ploughs to cash cows: a short history of economics
Feb 21, 2024
A matter of trust
Feb 20, 2024
The magnificent history of the Huxleys
Feb 19, 2024
The bookbinder's luck
Feb 16, 2024
Paul Kelly and the poetry
Feb 15, 2024
The calligraphy of the outback: the art and life of David Rankin
Feb 14, 2024
Crossing Australia with a camel named Delilah
Feb 13, 2024
Nick's land of lizards
Feb 12, 2024
A party girl gets sober
Feb 09, 2024
Sue's special classroom
Feb 08, 2024
Richard E. Grant and his pocketful of happiness
Feb 07, 2024
Kira and the real King Kong
Feb 06, 2024
The making of Nazeem Hussain
Feb 05, 2024
The toilet warrior
Feb 02, 2024
She farms, she flies, she castrates bulls
Feb 01, 2024
Trichotillomania and me
Jan 31, 2024
Jackie goes to Space Camp
Jan 30, 2024
Julia Baird's search for grace
Jan 29, 2024
Robert Waldinger's good life
Jan 26, 2024
Aunty Ruth Hegarty’s life of defiance
Jan 25, 2024
Roger Rogerson: crimes and punishment
Jan 24, 2024
Slaying monsters, immortality and sex: the wild ride of Gilgamesh
Jan 23, 2024
Deviating demographics with Liz Allen
Jan 22, 2024
Nancy's muster dog, Mate
Jan 19, 2024
The nudist, the vegetarian vicar and Karl Marx's daughter
Jan 18, 2024
Jane Perlez's view from Beijing
Jan 17, 2024
Off-road in the roaring twenties
Jan 16, 2024
Chess master Irina Berezina’s gambit
Jan 15, 2024
Costa Georgiadis — Heart and Soil
Dec 24, 2023
Best of 2023 - Dean Laws
Dec 08, 2023
Best of 2023 - Karin Bäumler
Dec 07, 2023
Best of 2023 - Amar Singh
Dec 06, 2023
Best of 2023 - Danny Estrin
Dec 05, 2023
Best of 2023 - Deb Wallace
Dec 04, 2023
Sandy Mackinnon's never-ending adventures aboard Jack de Crow
Dec 01, 2023
Melissa Lucashenko and the story of Edenglassie
Nov 30, 2023
William McInnes and his favourite Australianisms
Nov 29, 2023
Piecrust promises and broken hearts
Nov 28, 2023
The truth about Pax Romana
Nov 27, 2023
Lee Miller: surrealist photographer, war correspondent, and gourmet chef
Nov 24, 2023
Lucy's button shop
Nov 23, 2023
Hayley's morbid curiosity
Nov 22, 2023
Pentridge Prison, Australia's bluestone hell
Nov 21, 2023
Jon Owen's radical love
Nov 20, 2023
Catherine Martin: making Elvis and loving Baz
Nov 17, 2023
The ladder out of depression with psychiatrist Ian Hickie
Nov 16, 2023
Prepared for anything
Nov 15, 2023
The rise of the Super Bilby
Nov 14, 2023
Mick and Juana: a love story
Nov 13, 2023
Wily cockatoos, bin chickens and spangled drongos
Nov 10, 2023
How David got his sea legs
Nov 09, 2023
Kylie Moore-Gilbert's freedom fight
Nov 08, 2023
Richard Flanagan's chain of events
Nov 07, 2023
Ariadne and the Minotaur
Nov 06, 2023