Conversations

Author Victoria Mackinlay with the story of how her grandfather, Francis came to have a pet lion, as a gift from an Indian Maharaja

Dr Tamara Keeley uses reproductive technology to help save rhinos, Tasmanian devils and koalas from extinction

No, he's not 'that' Richie Ramone, but this Richie Ramone's passion for punk is just as fierce.

Swimmer and entrepreneur Lisa on her life in and out of the pool, and how the loss of her daughter Jaimi has changed her

Zen priest and writer Ruth Ozeki takes us into world brimming with the voices of people and household objects, and her own experience of hearing her late father's voice in her ear (R)

Christine Ball is an anaesthetist at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne who chanced upon an old casebook of a doctor named Joseph Clover (R)

Anh Nguyen Austen's family fled Vietnam by sea in 1982, on a wooden boat bound for the Philippines. When a once-in-a-century storm struck in South China Sea, they thought all hope was lost. Anh is an academic and community volunteer. She grew up in Vietnam in a Catholic family.Anh's childhood was idyllic, with a big extended family and a close friendship with her cousin named Joe.But life for the adults was complicated after the end of the war. In the early 1980s, her parents planned a daring escape.Under the noses of the regime, they secretly constructed a boat which they hoped would take them to the Philippines.They intended to bring 40 people with them, but on the day of departure 101 people crowded on board, before the boat sailed into a once-in-a-century storm on the South China Sea.Years later, Anh found film footage of their rescue, at a moment when almost all hope was lost.After their rescue, her family made it to a refugee camp in the Philippines, then to America, where Anh grew up to attend some of the world's most prestigious universities before she became an academic herself.Further informationThe rescue of 101 Boat was filmed for Medecins du MondeTo binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

The Booker prize winning English novelist on disappointing his parents, the time before he was a writer, and his gift for unhappiness

When country woman Shanna Whan hit rock bottom in 2014 after a lifelong battle with alcohol addiction, she began a grassroots movement to tackle how we talk about booze in the bush

Frank Dell survived being shot down over Nazi Germany, with the aid of courageous Dutch families and resistance fighters (R)