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 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.
29 snips
Mar 13, 2026 • 51min
Is America sliding into autocratic rule under Trump?
M. Gessen, author and NYT columnist who covered Russia and authoritarianism, discusses democratic erosion in the US. They contrast fast and slow slides into autocracy. They explore tactics like state terror, militant incompetence, and shrinking civic space. They examine why people accept trade-offs for belonging and how local resistance and new national stories might counter authoritarianism.
14 snips
Mar 12, 2026 • 45min
Encore: Colin Hay's wild ride to fame with Men at Work, and the heartbreak in the aftermath
Colin Hay, singer-songwriter and Men At Work frontman known for 1980s hits, reflects on sudden superstardom and the band’s rapid unraveling. He talks about writing hits like Who Can It Be Now? fast, battling alcoholism, rebuilding a solo career, the Kookaburra copyright fallout, and how small, sober shows renewed his connection to audiences.
Mar 11, 2026 • 53min
What happens to kids when they can't go to school?
Megan Gilmour, CEO and co-founder of Missing School and 2025 ACT Australian of the Year, turned her son Darcy’s long hospital stay into a campaign for two-way digital classroom connection. She talks about hospital isolation, how kids lose belonging when absent, the founding of Missing School, COVID’s lessons for remote learning, and policy changes needed to keep kids connected.
Mar 10, 2026 • 50min
Encore: Is there a cheating gene?
Kate Legge, journalist and author of Infidelity and Other Affairs, investigates decades of affairs in her family and her husband’s line. She recounts the garage revelation, a road trip to Broken Hill, intergenerational patterns, reasons people cheat, and the messy work of forgiveness and rebuilding trust. Short, candid, and curious.
Mar 9, 2026 • 52min
How I use touch to tell stories — my work as an intimacy director
Lisa Petty, movement and intimacy director who began dancing in 1980s New York, guides performers in consent-based physical storytelling. She discusses choreography of touch, how physical detail shapes character, wartime dance halls as luminous intimacy, safety enabling creativity in intimate scenes, and the role of proximity and presence in performance and parenting.
13 snips
Mar 6, 2026 • 51min
The decline of modern Britain — where did it all go so wrong?
Ian Dunt, British political journalist and author of How Westminster Works and Why It Doesn't, maps modern Britain’s unraveling. He discusses the legacy of the 2008 crash, Brexit’s shock and identity politics, Westminster’s weak institutions and ministerial churn, and how party incentives and electoral rules warp democracy. Short, sharp takes on populism, austerity and Britain’s geopolitical ties.
