Conversations

Di Morrissey grew up in a tiny village on the water, only accessible by rowboat, with film star Chips Rafferty and poet Dorothea Mackellar as her neighbours. When she was a young woman, a tragedy on the bay altered her life (R)

Dr Maddy McAllister's job as a marine archaeologist involves diving into the deep to uncover the artefacts and human stories sunk in shipwrecks

How a former ballerina revolutionised Australia's dance landscape (R)

When he was a child in South Africa, Professor Mark Solms watched his older brother sustain a terrible brain injury. He then began his own path, to understand how a person's brain shapes them. CW: description of a medical procedure (R)

When journalist Jason Om turned his skills towards his own family story he began to understand the real story of his perfectionist Buddhist Cambodian father and his Catholic Eurasian mother, who was stricken with an inexplicable sadnessJason is a journalist with ABC TV.A few years ago he turned his journalistic skills to his own family story.Jason wanted to find out what had happened to his mother in Malaysia, and whether that could explain the melancholy she struggled with as he was growing up.His questioning and searching for the truth also saw his father change in a way Jason never believed possible.Further informationAll Mixed Up is published by HarperCollinsJason Om will be a guest at the 2022 Sydney Writers FestivalTo 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.

Tim Jarvis on his adventures following in the footsteps of explorer Ernest Shackleton, who tried valiantly to cross Antarctica from sea to sea, from 1914-17

Sara El Sayed on growing up Arab in South-East Queensland, while juggling conflicting expectations from her father to be a good Muslim girl, and from her grandmother who encouraged her to write, and not marry

Clinical pain neuroscientist Dr Tasha Stanton explains her studies into the power of the mind when it comes to coping with injury and illness.Clinical pain neuroscientist, Dr Tasha Stanton works with people who experience chronic and crushing pain at the University of South Australia.Typically, her patients suffer from osteo-arthritis and back pain.Tasha says that far from being only the result of injury or illness, pain is influenced by many different factors in our lives — emotional turbulence, stressful jobs, or a lack of previous movement.She wants to change the story around pain, and give people back their mobility and their zest for life.She aims to do this by challenging the messages in the brain related to pain and movement.Tasha does this in different ways, one of which involves showing people elongated images of their fingers and knees.To 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 bestselling author explores animal behaviour and grief — the loss we feel when a beloved pet dies, and how other species understand death (R)

After her younger sister died suddenly, broadcaster Indira Naidoo's world was shattered. Then she turned to her urban landscape for solace (CW: mentions suicide)