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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

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.

Conversations

Ralph Jackman was a sports journalist who retrained as a teacher in midlife, and got his first job at Melbourne’s Parkville Youth Detention Centre, where he was tested by the troubled and bright, charismatic young men.

At the centre he found students who struggled with basic literacy, and he also met boys who were yearning for more than juvenile justice could provide.

Ralph created bonds with some of the boys that proved his teaching was making a connection. 

But he also saw how hours of isolation in their cells stamped the hope out of the young men, despite the committed teachers’ best efforts.

Further information

Detention is published by Allen & Unwin.

Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Research by Alice Moldovan.

This episode covers incarceration, troubled youth, youth work, behind bars, youth detention, Tony Abbott, Hugh Jackman, 

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.

Teaching boys behind the razor wire, inside Australia's juvenile detention system

After a near-death experience, Kate Clinch became drawn into the astonishing, Gothic story of a young Australian woman named Eileen O'Connor, who is buried under the floorboards of a home in Coogee.

Kate was working as a GP in country South Australia when an ectopic pregnancy nearly killed her.

She had a vivid near death experience, which prompted her to start interrogating inexplicable and miraculous events.

Kate hadn't grown up Catholic, or even religious, but years after her near death experience, she was drawn into the story of a young Australian saint-in-waiting named Eileen O'Connor.

Eileen lived in Sydney at the turn of the 20th century.

She lived with profound physical disabilities, standing at only 115cm tall, but somehow she managed to head up a group of nurses who delivered free medical care to people living in the slums of Sydney.

Eileen's story is an astounding collection of ups and downs - suffering, tragedy, a scandalous relationship with a young priest, threats of excommunication, a wartime sea voyage to Rome and a meeting with the Pope.

And she is currently being scrutinised by the Vatican for possible canonisation, which would make Eileen Australia's second saint.

Every Inch a Saint is published by Monkfish.

Our Lady's Nurses for the Poor has been caring for the sick and disadvantaged in their own homes for more than 100 years. You can read more about the religious order and the lay nurses who work with the nuns - colloquially known as the Brown Nurses - online.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores spirituality, dying, sickness, religion, faith, Christianity, Catholic Church, World War One, Spanish Influenza, TB, Tuberculosis, history, Australian history, nuns, priests, scandal, people living with disability, sainthood, miracles, near death experiences, metaphysical experiences, motherhood, doctoring, medicine, modern medicine, x-rays, medical history, resilience, divinity, holy, the divine, sainthood, how does someone become a saint, what is a miracle, living with disability, spinal deformity, grief, death.

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, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

The doctor, the near-death experience, and the saint-in-waiting

Costume designer Tim Chappel on the chance discovery at a train station that led him into a life of designing for films and the stage.

Tim can’t remember all the places he lived, growing up on Army bases around the country, and overseas. 

His one constant as a kid was nature. 

He’d look for stick insects to pin into his collection and draw endless terrestrial orchids. 

Tim was ready to focus his life on botany when he found a copy of French Vogue at Flinders Street Station in Melbourne.

He was entranced by the glamour of the clothes and felt an instant connection to the tailoring.

Tim was creating shorts for bartenders and costumes for drag queens at Sydney's Albury Hotel when he got a new job offer.

That's when he signed up to design the costumes for an Australian film called Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, work which would later win him an Oscar.

More information

There is a sequel in the works for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Read more about it here

Encore: Designing for the drag queens in 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'

Growing up, para powerlifter, Hani Watson’s passion for lifting had been ignited by her dad and the pack of Arnold Schwarzenegger-types in their string singlets who would accompany him to lift weights. The gym has seen Hani through agonising moments in life, and all the way to the Paralympic Games. Warning: discussion of sexual assault.

Throughout her childhood she was having operation after painful operation, to try to straighten her bowed legs.

After each surgery, the metal pins and screws would wreak havoc in Hani’s legs, and they resumed growing in the same way they always had.

In high school, ruptures at home meant Hani had to move out and support herself, and she lost touch with her mum. 

During this distressing time, a kindly school principal gave Hani the keys to the school gym, and that place became an anchor once more.

After another unsuccessful surgery in her 30s, Hani was enjoying the freedom of a wheelchair, compared to the agonising and exhausting effort of walking.

She turned to powerlifting to recover, which led her to worldwide competitions, eventually earning a bronze medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. 

Hani also competed at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Further information

If you need support, you can chat online with someone at Lifeline, or call on 13 11 14.

Hani won a bronze medal for Australia in Glasgow at this year’s Commonwealth Games! Read more here.

This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

This episode covers weightlifting, powerlifting, para-powerlifting, paralympian, disability, athlete, bowed legs, osteotomies, plates and screws in your leg, divorce, marriage, trauma, domestic violence, family violence, mental health, mental illness, psychosis, weight training, drugs, drug mule, marijuana, high school, bullying, popular kids, assault, sexual assault, competition, bunnings, wheelchair, VAD, QVAD, voluntary assisted dying and chores. 

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.

Australia’s ‘Bench Queen’ on her salvation — the gym

At just 15 years old, Jarvis Cocker wrote a manifesto that laid out his vision for a band he hoped would take over the music industry.

Jarvis discovered the document while sorting through the boxes of stuff from his early life that he’d stashed away in his attic.

It was in an an old school exercise book from when he was a fifteen-year-old schoolboy in Sheffield.

He'd filled it with detailed plans to form a band called Pulp that would storm the music industry.

But it took fourteen years for his 'Pulp Masterplan' to come to fruition, when his song ‘Common People’ went to the top of the UK charts.

This interview was first broadcast in 2023 

Further information

This interview was recorded at the 2023 Melbourne Writers Festival 

Good Pop Bad Pop is published by Random House

Encore: Jarvis Cocker and the Pulp masterplan

Hannah had a beautiful love story with her husband Matt. After he died in a surfing accident, grief broke her open and changed her life in unexpected ways 

As a young couple, writer Hannah Richell and her husband Matt left London for a new life in Australia. 

They loved the ocean, the sun, and the people.

Then one morning before work, Matt went for a surf at Bronte Beach, and, in a tragic accident, drowned.

Hannah was lost to grief....and overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for their two little children all alone.

But, painstaking, day by day, month by month, year by year she found her way back to life.

Hannah discovered that her heart could expand to include all of it - the joy and the heartbreak, the sweetness and the pain, the love and the loss.

Further information: 

An Ocean And A Day is published by HarperCollins

Hannah Richell: loving my husband Matt, and finding my way after his death

During her two terms as PM, Jacinda gained global attention for her response to the terror attack in Christchurch and for giving birth at the same time as running the country.

Jacinda grew up as a good Mormon girl who planned on making a difference behind the scenes.

But when she unexpectedly became head of the Labor Party, only weeks away from a federal election, Jacinda discovered she had a talent for leadership.

Jacinda's memoir about her time as PM and her life before and after is called A Different Kind of Power.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Jen Leake and Nicola Harrison is the Executive Producer.

Further Information

A Different Kind of Power is published by Penguin.

For more information, Penguin authors Jacinda Ardern

Jacinda Ardern on her life as the ex-Mormon girl who became New Zealand's Prime Minister

The much-loved actor Sam Neill had an unusual path into acting. Raised in New Zealand as a shy boy with a stutter named Nigel, he was 30 when he got his big break (R) Sam, who has died at the age of 78, was an acclaimed actor, a winemaker, an author, a cancer survivor and a Dad to four children. 

In recent years he had cared for cows, pigs, ducks and horses on his farm in New Zealand while making Pinot Noir.

In his remarkable career as an actor he starred in more than 100 films including Jurassic Park, My Brilliant Career, and The Piano.

A few years ago, stuck in Sydney while undergoing treatment for cancer, Sam found himself with a lot of time on his hands to reflect on his eclectic life.

Sarah spoke to him in 2023 after the release of his quirky, funny and life-affirming memoir.

Further information:

Did I Ever Tell You This is published by Text

Remembering Sam Neill, the shy boy from Dunedin who became a movie star

Fairytale expert, Kate Forsyth travels back in time to the stories of her youth, to a dark, fantastical and eerie world where cruelty and mischief abound.

As a young girl, Kate was sent to stay with her great aunts in Newcastle and there was introduced to the darkness, magic and mystery of Scottish folklore.

These stories lit Kate’s imagination on fire, and let to a lifetime of study into these powerful stories and the messages behind them.

One true story from this period that stayed with Kate was the treacherous and dramatic life story of Mary, Queen of Scots, who, in the telling, was only a few years older than the teenaged Kate.

Intertwined with the true Scottish history were dark, fantastical and eerie accounts about cruel and mischievous fairies who would leave their young in place of human babies, as ‘changelings’. 

This world abounded with magic - hazelnuts that give the power of invisibility and curses that cause boys to dance to their death.

These legends also feature brave and ingenious girls who figure out how to rescue the sick and cursed through their own wits and knowledge of the natural world.

Further information

The Changeling is published by Penguin Random House.

This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. The Executive Producer of Conversations is Nicola Harrison.

You can listen to Kate's previous Conversations interviews on the tangled roots of fairytales, the dark and violent origins of beloved fairytales, the Russian tale of Vasilisa the Wise and her nemesis, the witch Baba Yaga, the story of a blood red rose, The intrepid and curious Charlotte Waring Atkinson, Psyche, the curious and brave goddess of the soul.

This episode touches on witch trials, burning of witches, neolithic stones, storytelling, violence against women, cunning folk, ken, kenning, runes, being in touch with the seasons, old women, prayers, spells, rowan tree, faeries, fairies, fairy queen, changeling, autism, neurodivergent, neurodiverse, dauphin, King James, King James Bible, 

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.

Everyday magic, witch hunts and fairies in medieval Scotland

Travel writer Pico Iyer was at the peak of his career when an accidental layover at Narita airport saw him begin to question everything.

Pico began flying around the world solo at the age of nine.

His parents lived in America and he had become a boarder at the Dragon School in Oxford.

To get to school and from school he took several flights each year alone.

The formative experience of travel stayed with him, and he grew up to become a journalist and travel writer for Time Magazine.

Further information

This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2020.

Autumn Light: a season of Fire and Farewells is published by Bloomsbury.

This episode was produced by Nicola Harrison. The Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.

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.

Encore: My year in Japan, in stillness and silence

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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