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.
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 27, 2026 • 53min
The secret life of a matchmaker—love, listening and telling the truth
Vinko Anthony, a matchmaker for gay men and author of All In, grew up in Dubrovnik learning deep listening from his Nonna. He recounts migration to Australia, falling in love across countries, keeping and revealing an HIV diagnosis, and how he builds a matchmaking practice focused on communication, curated monogamy, and lasting commitment.
Mar 26, 2026 • 0sec
Encore: falling in love with a charming fake farmer
Stephanie Wood, journalist and author of the memoir Fake, tells a true tale of online romance gone wrong. She recounts meeting a charming farmer who repeatedly cancelled and deceived her. The conversation explores catfishing, discovery of a double life, investigative sleuthing and the wider pattern of online manipulation.
Mar 25, 2026 • 53min
Encore: The barber who helps boys become good men
Charles Lomu, a Sydney-based barber and youth worker from Tonga, shares his journey from island childhood to community mentor. He talks about his garage barbershop, the craft and meaning behind fades, using haircuts to build trust, his path through loss and detention, and training young men in skills and communication.
Mar 24, 2026 • 53min
Encore: After triple zero — a paramedic's tale
Benjamin Gilmour, filmmaker and former inner‑city Sydney paramedic, reflects on decades on the frontline and his book The Gap. He describes lifesaving calls, rescuing people from cliff jumps, the chaos of weekend nights, the toll of repeated trauma and how colleagues cope. Short, sharp stories capture danger, grief and the strange rituals that help crews keep going.
Mar 23, 2026 • 53min
Anna the anxiety coach on surviving a roller coaster accident and healing her nervous system
Anna Ferguson, counsellor and author who specialises in nervous-system regulation, recounts surviving a childhood rollercoaster crash and finding healing through Muay Thai and body-based therapies. She discusses trauma’s effects on the nervous system, the role of the vagus nerve, movement and breath techniques, cold exposure, and balancing intense caregiving with practical regulation tools.
13 snips
Mar 20, 2026 • 52min
Iran's position of power in the Strait of Hormuz
Jennifer Parker, former Royal Australian Navy officer and maritime security expert now at ANU and the Lowy Institute. She explains why Iran can dominate the Strait of Hormuz. Short takes cover navigational choke points, IRGC small-boat and drone tactics, submarine strikes and the risks to global oil flows and regional escalation.
Mar 19, 2026 • 49min
Encore: How Jenny upended the Australian way of death
Jenny Briscoe-Hough, community centre manager who founded Tender Funerals, shares how a shocking funeral bill and community action led to Australia’s first not-for-profit funeral service. She talks about reclaiming care of the dead, grassroots fundraising to buy a fire station, practical legalities of home and community-led funerals, and how hands-on rituals change grieving.
Mar 18, 2026 • 54min
Deciding on a big, bold life
Margie Warrell, author and leadership coach who left a dairy-farm upbringing to build an international coaching career, shares vivid life pivots. She recalls rural roots, solo travel misadventures, recovery from an eating disorder, traumatic robbery and personal loss. The conversation traces moves overseas, turning trauma into purpose, and the courage to choose a big, bold life.
Mar 17, 2026 • 51min
Encore: Tony Birch — op shop fever and old Fitzroy
Tony Birch, an acclaimed Australian writer who explores working-class and Indigenous life, shares vivid Fitzroy memories from op-shop rituals to scavenging for firewood. He recounts a jolting middle-class Christmas stay, sly grog operations, street smarts born of demolition and loss, and how objects and places shape storytelling.
Mar 16, 2026 • 53min
The ordinary and extraordinary lives of women, artists and mothers
Drusilla Modjeska, writer and critic who explores lives of women artists and writers. She recounts leaving postwar England, discovering Pacific visual culture, and researching pioneering interwar women. Conversations range from surrealist photographers and radical self-portraiture to her investigation of her mother’s institutionalisation and the ways art and history reveal gendered constraint and resistance.
