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
Jul 21, 2020 • 52min
Eddie Woo on finding the right formula
Despite never really liking maths at school, Eddie made up his mind in the teaching sign-on queue, to become a maths teacher. This split-second decision changed his life, and the lives of many of his future students (R)
Jul 20, 2020 • 48min
Floating though the dolines
Cave diver Stefan Eberhard has spent decades exploring the vast underwater caves of the Nullarbor Plains, where the water teems with blind shrimp and colourless fish, and curtains of bacterial slime hang glistening from the ceiling
Jul 17, 2020 • 49min
From a mountain monastery
Paul Haller grew up Catholic in Belfast, and his pursuit of meaning has since taken him around the world. Now a Zen priest, Zen practice and teaching became Paul's calling: from retreating to a cave in Thailand; to teaching meditation, to the incarcerated, and the dying, in San Francisco
Jul 16, 2020 • 52min
Lying on the job — the story of an undercover officer
Keith Banks spent twenty years in his dream career with the Queensland Police. He was awarded for bravery several times, but left the job angry and disillusioned. He now reflects on what the job and police culture were like in the 1980s and the cost of lying for a living
Jul 15, 2020 • 55min
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? A journey through the wondrous complexity of the human body (R)
Jul 14, 2020 • 47min
Territory taxidermist — Jared Archibald
Jared spent his childhood behind the scenes at the Museum of the Northern Territory, up close to prehistoric kangaroo fossils, opulent trading pearls, and sacred crocodiles flown in from Arnhem Land. Then he became the museum's taxidermist
Jul 13, 2020 • 52min
Nardi Simpson on Crocodile Country
Yuwaalaraay writer, storyteller and performer, Nardi Simpson of the Stiff Gins talks about her life, art and the meaning of country
Jul 10, 2020 • 60min
A boy, his pony and the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Lennie Gwyther was 9 years old when he rode Ginger Mick from country Victoria to Sydney to be at the opening of the Bridge (R)
Jul 9, 2020 • 53min
In Pico Iyer's Japan the air is thronged with ghosts
Pico was a journalist in New York when a 20-hour layover at Narita airport in Japan made him question everything. He decided to begin again as a monk at a Zen temple in Kyoto. But things didn't go entirely to plan
Jul 8, 2020 • 48min
The raptor whisperer
Peggy McDonald has spent much of her life as wildlife carer who specialises in helping wedge-tail eagles, falcons, owls and other raptors recover their ability to fly
