Conversations

ABC Australia

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.

Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more at the Conversations website.

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20 episodes
Updated Yesterday

Episodes20

Newest first

Yesterday · 52 min
What seven ancient traditions can teach us all about living a good life today
Nikki Goldstein was in a coma in the ICU at St Vincent's Hospital when she first 'met' Rabbi Eli Schlanger. When she woke, the pair embarked together on a project to share the wisdom, compassion and universality of several Jewish teachings. Although they were from very different worlds, when Nikki gained consciousness and met Rabbi Eli properly the two became fast friends. Then, they started writing a book together - based on the deep and expansive conversations they began having about hope, p
Friday · 52 min
Growing the goodness of the world—Hannah Moloney on why we garden
Gardening Australia's Hannah Moloney on the heartwarming and heartbreaking reasons humans continue to lovingly tend to their gardens — for healing, beauty and joy. For thousands of years, tending to a garden or a small farm meant human survival. But now, with massive commercial farms, genetically modified crops, refrigerated freight and modern irrigation, we don't need to tend to our own gardens to survive. So why, then, do so many of us still lovingly plant, water and cultivate flowers, fru
Thursday · 52 min
Encore: How Zenith became a death walker, and her true self
Zenith Virago was a married mother of two, when she left her family to begin again as a lesbian. Then she found a new path as a death walker, helping people navigate their life's end. Zenith grew up in England, and she was still at school when she fell in love with another student. At seventeen, she married Richard, Head Boy of the local Comprehensive school. They had two children, Jodie and Todd. Then at 24, Zenith had a realisation about who she really was. She left her husband and chi
Wednesday · 51 min
Rasputin's killer and the Australian conductor
Conductor Alexander Briger has led orchestras all over the world. But his niche occupation is not the only fascinating thing about him. Alex's family history is wild. Alexander Briger has stood in front of musicians all over the world, summoning a gigantic, beautiful noise from them. Classical music was a huge part of Alex’s story growing up. He is the nephew of the famous conductor, the late Sir Charles Mackerras; and descended from the so-called "father of Australian music", Isaac Nathan.
July 28 · 47 min
Encore: The compulsive and complex behaviour I kept hidden for years
Adele Dumont was a teenager when she first started pulling out her hair, an urge that became so uncontrollable she was left with a bald spot. She would sometimes enter a trancelike state, covertly sitting on her bathroom floor, picking at her scalp for hours on end. The urge to pull at her hair was uncontrollable, and secret. When Adele finally put a name to her behaviour, she learnt that trichotillomania has a complex history and psychological understanding, much of which remains unknown. T
July 27 · 53 min
Teaching boys behind the razor wire, inside Australia's juvenile detention system
Ralph Jackman was a sports journalist who retrained as a teacher in midlife, and got his first job at Melbourne’s Parkville Youth Detention Centre, where he was tested by the troubled and bright, charismatic young men. At the centre he found students who struggled with basic literacy, and he also met boys who were yearning for more than juvenile justice could provide. Ralph created bonds with some of the boys that proved his teaching was making a connection. But he also saw how hours o
July 24 · 51 min
The doctor, the near-death experience, and the saint-in-waiting
After a near-death experience, Kate Clinch became drawn into the astonishing, Gothic story of a young Australian woman named Eileen O'Connor, who is buried under the floorboards of a home in Coogee. Kate was working as a GP in country South Australia when an ectopic pregnancy nearly killed her. She had a vivid near death experience, which prompted her to start interrogating inexplicable and miraculous events. Kate hadn't grown up Catholic, or even religious, but years after her near death exp
July 23 · 50 min
Encore: Designing for the drag queens in 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'
Costume designer Tim Chappel on the chance discovery at a train station that led him into a life of designing for films and the stage. Tim can’t remember all the places he lived, growing up on Army bases around the country, and overseas. His one constant as a kid was nature. He’d look for stick insects to pin into his collection and draw endless terrestrial orchids. Tim was ready to focus his life on botany when he found a copy of French Vogue at Flinders Street Station in Melbourne. He
July 22 · 50 min
Australia’s ‘Bench Queen’ on her salvation — the gym
Growing up, para powerlifter, Hani Watson’s passion for lifting had been ignited by her dad and the pack of Arnold Schwarzenegger-types in their string singlets who would accompany him to lift weights. The gym has seen Hani through agonising moments in life, and all the way to the Paralympic Games. Warning: discussion of sexual assault. Throughout her childhood she was having operation after painful operation, to try to straighten her bowed legs. After each surgery, the metal pins and screw
July 21 · 50 min
Encore: Jarvis Cocker and the Pulp masterplan
At just 15 years old, Jarvis Cocker wrote a manifesto that laid out his vision for a band he hoped would take over the music industry. Jarvis discovered the document while sorting through the boxes of stuff from his early life that he’d stashed away in his attic. It was in an an old school exercise book from when he was a fifteen-year-old schoolboy in Sheffield. He'd filled it with detailed plans to form a band called Pulp that would storm the music industry. But it took fourteen years for h
July 20 · 51 min
Hannah Richell: loving my husband Matt, and finding my way after his death
Hannah had a beautiful love story with her husband Matt. After he died in a surfing accident, grief broke her open and changed her life in unexpected ways As a young couple, writer Hannah Richell and her husband Matt left London for a new life in Australia. They loved the ocean, the sun, and the people. Then one morning before work, Matt went for a surf at Bronte Beach, and, in a tragic accident, drowned. Hannah was lost to grief....and overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for t
July 17 · 58 min
Jacinda Ardern on her life as the ex-Mormon girl who became New Zealand's Prime Minister
During her two terms as PM, Jacinda gained global attention for her response to the terror attack in Christchurch and for giving birth at the same time as running the country. Jacinda grew up as a good Mormon girl who planned on making a difference behind the scenes. But when she unexpectedly became head of the Labor Party, only weeks away from a federal election, Jacinda discovered she had a talent for leadership. Jacinda's memoir about her time as PM and her life before and after is called
July 16 · 48 min
Remembering Sam Neill, the shy boy from Dunedin who became a movie star
The much-loved actor Sam Neill had an unusual path into acting. Raised in New Zealand as a shy boy with a stutter named Nigel, he was 30 when he got his big break (R) Sam, who has died at the age of 78, was an acclaimed actor, a winemaker, an author, a cancer survivor and a Dad to four children. In recent years he had cared for cows, pigs, ducks and horses on his farm in New Zealand while making Pinot Noir. In his remarkable career as an actor he starred in more than 100 films including Jur
July 15 · 52 min
Everyday magic, witch hunts and fairies in medieval Scotland
Fairytale expert, Kate Forsyth travels back in time to the stories of her youth, to a dark, fantastical and eerie world where cruelty and mischief abound. As a young girl, Kate was sent to stay with her great aunts in Newcastle and there was introduced to the darkness, magic and mystery of Scottish folklore. These stories lit Kate’s imagination on fire, and let to a lifetime of study into these powerful stories and the messages behind them. One true story from this period that stayed wi
July 14 · 52 min
Encore: My year in Japan, in stillness and silence
Travel writer Pico Iyer was at the peak of his career when an accidental layover at Narita airport saw him begin to question everything. Pico began flying around the world solo at the age of nine. His parents lived in America and he had become a boarder at the Dragon School in Oxford. To get to school and from school he took several flights each year alone. The formative experience of travel stayed with him, and he grew up to become a journalist and travel writer for Time Magazine. Further
July 13 · 54 min
How the Liberal Party lost its hold on Australia
Paul Kelly, Editor-at-Large of The Australian, investigates how the country went from the great reform age under Hawke, Keating and Howard, into the tumultuous Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison era of prime ministers, and arrived at the current existential crisis facing the Liberal Party. Paul started his career as a political journalist in the 1970s and was at old Parliament House when Gough Whitlam was dismissed. In his latest book, Paul examines how the Liberal Party lost its long-standing grip o
July 10 · 52 min
NAIDOC 2026: From an iron lung to the page — Gayle’s life in comics and words
Wongaibon woman, Gayle Kennedy tells the story of her childhood, punctuated by years of treatment for polio. A bright child, she blitzed school and was drawn to comic book writing, which led to an award-winning career as an author. Gayle was two when she contracted polio. The family was living in a camp outside Condobolin when little Gayle collapsed at her aunt’s house. Gayle’s mother was in hospital at the time, where she had given birth to Gayle’s younger brother. She ran from the hospi
July 9 · 52 min
NAIDOC 2026: Troy Cassar-Daley: the boy from Halfway Creek
Troy grew up travelling between two very different worlds with his Indigenous mum and his Maltese Dad. At just 17 he started on his path to becoming one of Australia's biggest country music stars (R) CW: Mentions suicide, please take care when listening Troy Cassar-Daley is a proud Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung man, and one of Australia's most beloved country music stars. As a 17-year-old musician just starting out, Troy joined a band called Little Eagle. Soon afterwards, he won the Tamworth S
July 8 · 47 min
NAIDOC 2026: Anita Heiss with stories of love and war from the Wiradjuri people
Writer Anita Heiss has based her novel Dirrayawadha on stories from the 1800s during the frontier wars in Bathurst, when martial law was declared.
July 7 · 51 min
NAIDOC 2026: Rachel Perkins on 'The Australian Wars'
The filmmaker on her series which documents a period some historians call the most important war Australia has ever fought in. Rachel Perkins is one of this country's great storytellers, translating distinctively Australian stories for the screen, including a television series first released in 2022 called The Australian Wars. It tracks the bloody conflicts that broke out across the continent after the arrival of the British colonists. Rachel says these are the most important wars in our hist