Conversations

The Polish-French physicist and chemist is famous for discovering radium, but Marie Curie was more than her accomplishments. From 'the flying university' to great loves and losses, Dava Sobel investigates her extraordinary life. Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, and the first person to win a second Nobel Prize.  But alongside her discovery of radioactivity, Marie’s life...

Would you want to live for longer? Forever? Have your mind preserved and uploaded into something non-human? And is it even possible? Neuroscientist Dr Ariel Zeleznikow explores challenging ideas about life and death. From adding a few decades onto a life span, to suspending the aging process altogether, and more radically, uploading a preserved brain and consciousness into an entirely different ph...

Gold Coast lawyer Chris Nyst on his 45 years in criminal law, defending career criminals, going head to head with corrupt police, heroin addicts and a postcard bandit (R) When Chris Nyst finished studying law in the mid 1970s, he moved to a town by the beach to begin his life as a lawyer, not because it was a glitzy and glamorous city back then, but because he wanted to surf. But his nearly five d...

Durkhanai Ayubi and her family keep alive the stories and flavours they carried to Australia from Afghanistan, in the dining room of their 'accidental' and thriving restaurant (R) Durkhanai was two years old when she and her family came to Australia from Afghanistan. She grew up with stories of the old country from her parents, but her most powerful sensory connection to Afghanistan developed in t...

Writer Geraldine Brooks on love, grief and letting go after her husband died in a shocking and unexpected way. In 2019, Australian writer Geraldine Brooks was forced into a world of practicalities when her beloved husband, Tony, collapsed on the street in the United States and died. She had to immediately manage finances and family life, organise a funeral and work out what had happened for Tony t...

It took a catastrophic car accident for the singer and actress to leave a decorated career in architecture and focus on her artistic ambitions, including a tribute show to her friends Sinead O'Connor, and Shane MacGowan of The Pogues. Irish-French singer and performer Camille O’Sullivan grew up in County Cork, with her Irish father and French mother. Although she sang throughout her youth, she was...

Lindsey Fidler’s quest to find her biological father started with jazz and an American Air Force Base. It ended with a trip to the U.S. through a disastrous free flights promotion run by the British division of Hoover Vacuums. Sociologist Lindsey Fidler’s parents met and married in the 1960s in East Anglia, United Kingdom. They would go to jazz clubs and socialise with the men from the American Ai...

Paul is a musician, author and performer best known for his comedic alter-ego, Flacco. In recent years he's joined an eclectic band of people who ring the bells at his local church tower in inner Sydney (R) Paul is a musician, author and performer best known for his comedic alter-ego, Flacco. In recent years he's joined an eclectic band of people who ring the bells together at their local church t...

The renowned physician discusses the role of trauma in our lives, showing up as addiction, chronic disease and mental illness — and how recognising his own led to true healing. To binge even more great episodes of the Conversation 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-provok...

When Nadia Mahjouri travelled to Marrakech with her four-month-old baby to find her long lost father, she also underwent the process of matrescence — becoming a new version of herself as a mother. Nadia Mahjouri is a Moroccan-Australian author and counsellor. Growing up in Launceston, Tasmania, Nadia didn’t know anyone else who had her height, dark skin and curly hair. She knew her father was Moro...

Two of the most important men to Gus Worland departed his life in shocking and unexpected ways. Gus' grief led him to dig deeper into what it means to be a strong man and re-frame vulnerability as something powerful. TV and radio host Gus Worland grew up with some deeply rooted ideas about what it meant to be a man and a good bloke. When Gus was just 10 years old, his father left the family home f...

Brigitte Muir's dream to climb the seven highest mountains on each of the seven continents took much longer and cost her more than she expected, but she also discovered more about herself than she could have imagined (R) Brigitte Muir fell in love with the outdoors and adventure as a teenager in Belgium. Initially she was exhilarated by going caving, deep in the earth, and then rock-climbing, unti...

For poet David Whyte, the power of poetry lies in its unmatched ability to meditate and focus on what's right in front of us -- whether it's a mountain, a loved one, or our own reflection. He explains how one line of poetry is enough to change your life. David grew up amongst the moors and fields of West Yorkshire, with an English father and an Irish mother who had a gift for lyricism and language...

When Dannielle Miller became a teacher, she was given the classes no one else could handle. She was given a whistle on her first day, to call for help. She didn’t need it — in fact, she had something in common with some of her students. Dannielle Miller is the CEO of Enlighten Education and Director of Education for Women's Community Shelter. As a young teacher, fresh from university, Dannielle wa...

Historian, Professor Clare Wright tells the story of a formative moment — before the Mabo decision — in Australia’s democracy that you may not have heard of. Historian Clare Wright moved her family to Yirrkala in North-East Arnhem land in 2010.  She became a part of the Yolngu community and kept in touch after the family returned to Melbourne. Little by little, Clare learned about an extraordinary...

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb on how growing up as the child of an Oklahoma preacher opened up a door to music, and inspired his songwriting (R) Jimmy Webb grew up poor in Oklahoma, where his mother encouraged him to play the piano, revealing a prodigious musical talent. After moving to Los Angeles, Jimmy wrote his first hit for the Fifth Dimension: Up, Up And Away. Shortly after, he met Glen Campb...

When Linda Peek's mother Margaret died, Linda collected the scraps of handwritten notes strewn around the home and put together Margaret's remarkable tale of survival on Malta during WWII. When Linda was growing up, Margaret, would tell her these remarkable stories from her wartime childhood -- stories of survival, friendship and tragedy. Margaret had spent her most formative years on the island o...

Volcanologist Teresa Ubide opens volcanoes up from the outside, like a doll's house, searching for tiny crystal balls to help her predict when the next eruption might occur Humans have always had a complicated relationship with volcanoes — they are striking to look at and create fertile soils for farming, but they can be destructive and deadly. Today, around 10 per cent of the world's population l...

Warren Brown drove through 80 countries in searing heat and pouring rain in a vintage Bean car to recreate the 1927 world tour of Australian motorist, Francis Birtles. Today we bring you the next chapter in the adventurous exploits of author and cartoonist Warren Brown. Some years ago Warren Brown stumbled on the true story of a pioneering Australian motorist, Francis Birtles, who set out to drive...

Nazeem Hussain honed his comedy in Melbourne's suburbs in the 1990s. After his father left the family, his fearless mother taught Nazeem how to use humour to get bullies off his back. (R) Comedian, Nazeem Hussain honed his comedic chops in the suburbs of Melbourne in the 1990s. It was there, after his father left the family, that his fearless mother taught him how to use humour to get bullies off...

Lawyer turned journalist Eileen Ormsby on her journey deeper and deeper into the internet's 'evil twin', where, under the cloak of anonymity, people sell buy and share anything a person is willing to pay for.  Eileen Ormsby had just returned to university to study journalism when her friend told her about a website called The Silk Road. Created by American libertarian, Ross Ulbricht, it was essent...

Journalist Hedley Thomas grew up knowing that his grandmother Gladys had vanished in the sea off Sydney in the 1950s when she was just 35 years old. Decades later, her story spurred him on to begin a new life as a hugely successful true crime podcaster Hedley Thomas has had a storied career in journalism, which has seen him win many Walkley Awards and expose a lot of corruption and dodgy dealings....

Lucinda Light was running a speed dating company in Byron Bay when she auditioned for 'Married At First Sight'. While on the show, she became a huge hit with fans because of her emotional intelligence and open-hearted soul. When it ended, she embarked on an unexpected new life In 2024, a woman named Lucinda Light burst on to Australian TV screens on the reality show juggernaut 'Married at First Si...

Mark Balla was on a business trip to India when he met two young men on a train. They invited him back to see their home, one of the world's biggest slums. This meeting changed the course of Mark's life. (R) A former Lonely Planet writer and researcher, Mark was wary of participating in 'slum tourism', but something made him say yes to the invitation. That visit changed the course of his life: it...

Belinda Probert knew her father as an English war hero named Bill. What she didn't know, was that he was born Roy and that his spying did not end when the war did. Belinda Probert knew her father to be a decorated English war hero and successful businessman, whose family had all died long ago.  But a few months after Bill Probert died as an old man in France, a letter arrived at her mother’s house...