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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2,001 episodes
Updated Today

Episodes2001

Newest first

Apr 8, 2025 · 52 min
The wisdom of an ancient Pencil Pine
Nature writer Andrew Darby on what he learned from his rambles through the wilds of Tasmania, communing with the world’s oldest surviving trees. In particular, his ‘buttock clenching’ ascent up a 60-metre-tall eucalyptus known as The Vibe Tower. Nature writer, Andrew Darby spent more than 20 years as a Fairfax correspondent based in Tasmania. His stories involved the natural beauty of the bush, including visits to wild places and to the people who protect them, but it was deadline-driven an
Apr 4, 2025 · 50 min
Encore: A daring escape from Vietnam to the halls of prestigious American universities
Anh Nguyen Austen's family fled Vietnam by sea in 1982, on a wooden boat bound for the Philippines. When a once-in-a-century storm struck in the South China Sea, they thought all hope was lost (R) Anh is an academic and community volunteer who grew up in Vietnam in a Catholic family. Anh's childhood was idyllic, with a big extended family and a close friendship with her cousin named Joe. But life for the adults was complicated after the end of the war, and so in the early 1980s, her parent
Apr 3, 2025 · 52 min
From petty criminal to portrait artist – Vincent Fantauzzo's life was saved by love and painting
When artist Vincent Fantauzzo was a boy he was a street-fighting petty criminal with dyslexia and a blazing talent for drawing. He escaped jail time, and grew up to become one of Australia's most well-known portrait artists. VIncent Fantauzzo is one of Australia's most successful portrait artists. For his luminous, photo-realistic paintings he's won the People's Choice Award at the annual Archibald Prize more than any other artist. He's also won the Moran National Portrait Prize twice, once w
Apr 2, 2025 · 52 min
'Mistakes were made' — a live storytelling experience
Rebecca Huntley, Rick Morton, Julia Zemiro and Sarah Kanowski bring you stories of human failure, misadventure and outright fiasco in a live storytelling event recorded at Adelaide Writers Week. A few weeks ago, some former guests of Conversations, and our two presenters gathered at the Adelaide Town Hall. The event was a live storytelling hour, with the theme 'Mistakes were made', in front of a rapt audience of 800 forgiving souls. Writer and social researcher Rebecca Huntley shared
Apr 1, 2025 · 54 min
Two sisters, Dod and Brattle - the lesbian poet, and the evangelical Christian
Josie McSkimming on growing up with her bohemian sister, the poet Dorothy Porter, and how their lives took off on wildly diverging paths as they grew up. Sisters Dorothy and Josie Porter grew up in an interesting and sometimes volatile home on the northern beaches of Sydney in the 1970s. Together with their middle sister Mary, they lived in a world of books, a backyard menagerie of animals, and regular birdwatching excursions. Their father Chester was a well-known lawyer who was sometimes a ex
Mar 28, 2025 · 52 min
Encore: Doctor Koppe — PTSD and me
Hilton Koppe was a beloved country GP for 30 years before an unexpected health crisis of his own forced him to reassess everything (R) Hilton Koppe grew up knowing his parents wanted him to become a doctor and so when he got the marks to make it into medicine, they were overjoyed. By the time he was 30, he'd started working as a country GP. Hilton then became a beloved local doctor in Northern NSW, and he worked there for more than three decades. But a few years ago, Hilton's own health sudd
Mar 27, 2025 · 51 min
Shaking — escaping the grip of a lifelong tremor
Journalist and author Sonya Voumard on the rare neurological condition that has stalked her since a family tragedy during her childhood. Sonya Voumard was on the precipice of teen hood when her father suddenly and unexpectedly died. In the months following his death, Sonya developed a tremor in her right hand, not dissimilar to the shaking she sometimes noticed in her father when he was cutting the top off her boiled egg at breakfast. The tremor got worse as she got older, but working late
Mar 26, 2025 · 52 min
Loneliness — it's not only you
Loneliness is a universal experience, for each of us at some point in our lives. Journalist Ros Thomas travelled the world to investigate, and find the antidote. To binge even more great episodes of the 'Conversation 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. Ros
Mar 25, 2025 · 53 min
The fearless Kate McClymont — weathering death threats and court cases for work
The chief investigative reporter on her work exposing criminals and corruption, including former politician, Eddie Obeid and financial fraudster, Melissa Caddick. Kate McClymont is chief investigative reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. She grew up on a farm in NSW, and during university, funded her start in Sydney by setting up a busking booth in Kings Cross. Passers-by would pay her to answer a question, have an argument, or verbally abuse them. Kate's start in crime reporting came fr
Mar 21, 2025 · 52 min
Encore: Krystyna Duszniak and Poland's lost histories
As a young woman, Krystyna thought her father had taught her everything about Poland’s history, but she didn’t know that what he’d left out would become a focus of her life (R) Growing up, Krystyna Duszniak's father didn't speak a word of English to her, instilling in her a love of the Polish language, literature, history and culture. As the child of immigrants who had survived World War II, history was all around Krystyna, and while her patriotic father taught her so much about his homeland,
Mar 20, 2025 · 53 min
Life on the lam — how Peter escaped from under his fugitive father's shadow
Peter Norris's father was a notorious bank robber who lived life on the run, dragging his boy across the country with him, until Peter refused to go with him one last time. It was the hardest decision he ever had to make. Peter Norris grew up on the run with his criminal father, Clarence 'Clarry' Norris. Every time Clarry was arrested, he would find a way out of custody and fulfil his promise of coming back to his son, and every time they reunited they would be off once more tearing across Aus
Mar 19, 2025 · 49 min
Martha, baby Michael and the police officer who cried
Martha Jabour was a young mum when her baby son Michael died suddenly. In the thick of her grief, she worried for the devastated young police officer who had come to her home that day, before he unexpectedly reappeared in her life (CW: this conversation discusses the death of a child). Martha Jabour has lived through the worst possible day for a parent. When she was a young mum, she put her baby Michael to bed one night, and by the morning he had died in his sleep. Michael was just 7 wee
Mar 18, 2025 · 53 min
Undercover hitmen, shady drug deals and covert surveillance — life as a top cop
While working as an undercover cop, Nick Kaldas played a drug baron in the market for vast quantities of hemp oil, tracked a fugitive with a penchant for hair transplants, and posed as a hit man for a spurned lover. Nick was a 21-year-old immigrant lad from Egypt when he decided to join the NSW Police Force. He soon rose up the ranks from working as a junior constable on the beat, then as one of the first Arab-Australian undercover cops, to becoming one of the most senior police officers in Au
Mar 14, 2025 · 48 min
Encore: Andy Paschalidis on the death on the football pitch which changed everything
Football tragic Andy Paschalidis was in his 50s when a dear friend and fellow player died during an over-35s soccer game. The tragedy inspired him to begin a whole new story for himself, and the sport (R) Andy grew up in Sydney's Balmain when it was a working-class suburb, full of migrant families. His parents had arrived in Australia from Greece a few years before, seeking a different life. Andy grew up to be one of the first Greek-Australian sports broadcasters on TV and radio on SBS and 2GB
Mar 13, 2025 · 47 min
Tim Winton on staying alive, in extremis
Australian writer Tim Winton on the stories which inspired his latest novel, 'Juice', a story of determination, survival, and the limits of the human spirit. 'Juice' is an astonishing feat of imagination. It takes us to a far-off future on a superheated planet, where people must live like desert frogs in Northwest Australia. They go underground for the murderously hot summer months, before emerging in winter to grow and make what they can. The nameless narrator of the book is travelling
Mar 12, 2025 · 53 min
Love, death and duels — Marie Curie's radioactive life
The Polish-French physicist and chemist is famous for discovering radium, but Marie Curie was more than her accomplishments. From 'the flying university' to great loves and losses, Dava Sobel investigates her extraordinary life. Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, and the first person to win a second Nobel Prize. But alongside her discovery of radioactivity, Marie’s life was marked by her fierce love for husband Pierre, a scandalous affair following his death, and fea
Mar 11, 2025 · 50 min
Could you live forever? The neuroscience behind brain preservation, consciousness and death
Would you want to live for longer? Forever? Have your mind preserved and uploaded into something non-human? And is it even possible? Neuroscientist Dr Ariel Zeleznikow explores challenging ideas about life and death. From adding a few decades onto a life span, to suspending the aging process altogether, and more radically, uploading a preserved brain and consciousness into an entirely different physical structure, Ariel's research is at the cutting edge of neuroscience. These seem like stra
Mar 10, 2025 · 50 min
A life in the law, on the Glitter Strip
Gold Coast lawyer Chris Nyst on his 45 years in criminal law, defending career criminals, going head to head with corrupt police, heroin addicts and a postcard bandit (R) When Chris Nyst finished studying law in the mid 1970s, he moved to a town by the beach to begin his life as a lawyer, not because it was a glitzy and glamorous city back then, but because he wanted to surf. But his nearly five decades as a criminal lawyer on the Gold Coast turned out to be a wild ride through crime, corrupti
Mar 7, 2025 · 47 min
Encore: A restaurant named Parwana — Afghan treasure in Adelaide
Durkhanai Ayubi and her family keep alive the stories and flavours they carried to Australia from Afghanistan, in the dining room of their 'accidental' and thriving restaurant (R) Durkhanai was two years old when she and her family came to Australia from Afghanistan. She grew up with stories of the old country from her parents, but her most powerful sensory connection to Afghanistan developed in the kitchen of her mother, Farida. Both her parents had other professions in their homeland, bu
Mar 6, 2025 · 52 min
How Geraldine Brooks learned how to live again through grief
Writer Geraldine Brooks on love, grief and letting go after her husband died in a shocking and unexpected way. In 2019, Australian writer Geraldine Brooks was forced into a world of practicalities when her beloved husband, Tony, collapsed on the street in the United States and died. She had to immediately manage finances and family life, organise a funeral and work out what had happened for Tony to so suddenly and unexpectedly die. As time went by, Geraldine realised she had never let hers