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

Oct 18, 2019 · 53 min
The chair with five legs
As a girl, Davida Allen was brought up to be a proper young lady. Instead, she covered her naked body in paint and rolled around to make art. She grew up to become one of Australia's most famous painters (R)
Oct 17, 2019 · 51 min
Child convicts, lost boys and the murder at Point Puer
British boys as young as nine were transported to Van Diemen's Land for petty crime. 3000 of them were incarcerated at Point Puer, the first prison in the world built exclusively for children
Oct 16, 2019 · 51 min
Strange rescuers: my father's Holocaust
Juliet Rieden traces the story of her Czech father, who was taken as a child refugee to Britain a week before the Nazis arrived in Prague, and thus spared the fate of his extended family
Oct 15, 2019 · 51 min
Kumi’s Japanese inheritance
Australian journalist Kumi Taguchi grapples with divided loyalties after the death of her father
Oct 14, 2019 · 47 min
Story of a blood red rose
Kate Forsyth tells the origin story of a fairy tale staple, the ever-flowering red rose. Her version has its roots in Imperial China, and arrives via the French Revolution
Oct 11, 2019 · 51 min
Dear Dolly Doctor, Am I normal?
Dr. Melissa Kang explained sex, puberty and periods to teen girls in her role as Dolly magazine's ‘Dolly Doctor’. She spent 23 years answering questions sent by mail, that young people were too embarrassed to ask out loud
Oct 10, 2019 · 52 min
Dinosaur fields: finding fossils on the family farm
The random find of a dinosaur bone on her Queensland property led Robyn Mackenzie to develop an outback museum of international importance, and a deep sense of wonder at prehistoric geology
Oct 9, 2019 · 48 min
Chasing the dream that was Prague
Author Favel Parrett’s grandmother escaped from Czechoslovakia as a teenager, but her sister stayed behind - suffering the twin nightmares of Nazism and Stalinism
Oct 8, 2019 · 51 min
Finding the right formula with Eddie Woo
Waiting in line to enrol for a teaching degree in history and English, Eddie was persuaded to pursue maths instead. Despite never really liking maths at school, he signed up. The split-second decision changed his life, and the lives of many of his future students
Oct 7, 2019 · 52 min
The lucky accident of Sydney's Opera House
Helen Pitt on how the luminous shells of Australia's most loved building nearly didn't make it off the drawing board (R)
Oct 4, 2019 · 51 min
Discovering my father's secret life in France
Growing up, Louisa Deasey knew very little about her late father's life. Then she found a bundle of his lost love letters (R)
Oct 3, 2019 · 51 min
The sex life of brains
Neuropsychologist Dr Amee Baird on the mysterious connections between our brains and our desires
Oct 2, 2019 · 49 min
What's next for the Greens?
From the party of protest to the balance of power, journalist Paddy Manning looks at the history of Australia's most successful third party
Oct 1, 2019 · 51 min
Bill Bryson and the wonders of the human body
Why is scratching an itch so pleasurable? How can someone leap from a burning plane in the sky and survive with a few bumps and scratches? Take a journey through the wondrous complexity of the human body
Sep 30, 2019 · 50 min
Nursing on Sydney’s streets
When working with people experiencing homelessness, Erin Longbottom looks to their strengths to help them find their way to health and a home
Sep 27, 2019 · 51 min
A friendship and a giant literary hoax
Alison Hoddinott and Gwen Harwood were great friends with a shared love of English, family, and thumbing their noses at convention (R)
Sep 26, 2019 · 52 min
The evolution of Charlie Veron: the Great Barrier Reef's first scientist
School was nearly the undoing of the intensely curious child who went on to discover nearly a quarter of the world's coral species, and be awarded the Darwin Medal (R)
Sep 25, 2019 · 51 min
A vibrant life - Kath Venn at 84
The late Kath Venn was a powerhouse of community spirit. After serving in Tasmania's parliament, she was State President of the Housewives Association, a marriage celebrant and much else besides (R)
Sep 24, 2019 · 52 min
RAF pilot Frank Dell's story of survival in Nazi occupied Holland
In October 1944 Frank's De Havilland Mosquito was shot out of the sky and he parachuted into Nazi territory (R)
Sep 23, 2019 · 47 min
Secret of the native hibiscus: western science meets Indigenous knowledge
Botanist and Dharawal elder Fran Bodkin uses western science to explain up to 80,000 years of Australian Indigenous plant knowledge (R)