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

Jun 3, 2019 · 51 min
The memory whisperer
Lynne Kelly became a senior memory champion after she began researching ancient ways of transforming landscapes, objects and the human body into 'memory palaces.'
May 31, 2019 · 52 min
Operation Babylift
In the dying days of the Vietnam War, hundreds of orphans were airlifted from Saigon to safety. Ian Shaw tells the story of two Australian women at the heart of Operation Babylift
May 30, 2019 · 52 min
Psychotherapy on the couch
Demystifying the art of talk therapy and the complex relationship between therapist and patient Psychotherapy, also known as 'the talking cure', is based on a profound and usually ongoing connection between a person and their therapist. This type of work, often dealing with long buried events or feelings, can be transformative for patients. Gill Straker has a lifetime of experience as a psychotherapist, in Australia and in her birthplace, South Africa. Her work counselling victims of brutali
May 29, 2019 · 52 min
Behind the sequins: the Tony Sheldon story
Tony became an actor against his mother's wishes. Three decades later, he won the part of a lifetime (R)
May 28, 2019 · 51 min
Helen Zaltzman is the Allusionist
Travelling the world in pursuit of language and exploring its uses, abuses and transformation
May 27, 2019 · 52 min
The iron law of newspapers
Sally Young unearthed a culture of 'dog does not eat dog' as she wrote a history of Australia's newspaper barons
May 24, 2019 · 52 min
Inside the Robbers Cave: testing tribal loyalties at a boys summer camp
Gina Perry uncovers the strange story behind a controversial psychological experiment (R)
May 23, 2019 · 52 min
The great dogs of Australian history
Dog whisperer Guy Hull on remarkable dogs, from life-saving kangaroo dogs to plane-flying Alsatians (R)
May 22, 2019 · 52 min
In and out of strife: Vickie Roach's turbulent life
Vickie's met with trouble all through her life, starting with a police record at the age of two. She went on to challenge a Federal law on the rights of prisoners
May 21, 2019 · 51 min
Bob Hawke on a life in power
The late Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke on his life before politics, and his years at The Lodge (R)
May 20, 2019 · 51 min
How Australian Labor lost 'the unlosable election'
Social Researcher Rebecca Huntley on Australia's new political landscape
May 17, 2019 · 51 min
Jessie Cole's survival story
After two suicides within her family, Jessie returned to Northern NSW to begin again. (R)
May 16, 2019 · 52 min
How to change a mind
Eleanor Gordon-Smith was a 'recovering champion debater' when a night in King's Cross upended her belief in the power of reason
May 15, 2019 · 46 min
Irvine Welsh: the origins of Trainspotting
As a young man, Irvine Welsh fell off a double-decker bus and won a tidy sum in compensation. Then he began to write 'Trainspotting'
May 14, 2019 · 52 min
The story of The Snowy
Tales of drowned towns, pugnacious unionists, terrifying brumbies and a love story in a laundry floor came to light in Siobhan McHugh's history of the Snowy Scheme
May 13, 2019 · 48 min
Revealing the scars: the life of Kate Mulvany
Kate has used tragic events in her own life as creative fuel to write more than 25 plays (R)
May 10, 2019 · 49 min
When the library burned
Writer Susan Orlean on the enduring mystery of who set fire to the Los Angeles Central Library
May 9, 2019 · 49 min
The brutal and beautiful world of Australia's native bees
The Sugarbag bees who headbutt their queen to her death are among the many Australian bee species which fascinate ecologist Toby Smith
May 8, 2019 · 50 min
How a milkmaid with cowpox changed history
David Isaacs on the surprising history of human vaccination
May 7, 2019 · 46 min
This is your captain speaking
On 9/11 Captain Beverley Bass diverted her American Airlines jet to a tiny town in Newfoundland, along with thousands of other airspace refugees