Conversations

Some of the wildest stories about Roman emperors involve playing the violin while watching the city burn, and appointing a horse as consul. Classicist Mary Beard is fascinated by how much truth there could be to these tales

Deeply ashamed of what he had done, Mic Whitty retreated into the Welsh wilderness for almost a year. Eventually an unexpected goal pulled him out of homelessness and back into the world

Satu Vanska grew up in Japan as the child of Lutheran Missionaries. When the family moved back to Finland, she felt isolated and alien. But Satu knew she had a ticket out - her violin

The podcaster and comedian on her early life in Queensland, where she yearned to wear a coat; lessons from improv comedy; and how eyebrows were the key to finding her biological family (R)

As a child Trent was a quiet observer of the drama of his family and his neighbourhood. He became an award-winning writer (R)

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

Dr Jayashri Kulkarni on her Indian-Australian upbringing and her groundbreaking research into women's hormones and mental health 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-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists,...

Federal MP Andrew Leigh is a former professor of economics who is fascinated by how economics can create magic

How Jeanne Ryckmans fell for a dashing Irish Professor who was far from what he appeared to be

Historian Alison Bashford with the story of the Huxley family, who founded one of the great dynasties of the world

Dominic Riley on how a chance encounter with a bookbinding monk named Brother Bede changed the course of his life (R)

Australia's storyteller in song on the poems he's loved since childhood, and how reading and learning great poetry has changed his songwriting (R)

Artist David Rankin on his turbulent early life as a the son of a bootmaker, his unexpected path into painting, and his passionate love story with writer Lily Brett (R)

Sophie Matterson spent five years preparing to cross the Australian continent with five camels she caught and trained herself (R)

Nick Clemann is one of Australia's leading lizard experts, but took an unconventional path into research. After working for years as a tradie, Nick plucked up the nerve to go to university, walking into what he thought was territory reserved for the intellectual elite

Victoria Vanstone was just 13 years old when she had her first drink, and the booze quickly consumed her. It wasn't until she was in her 30s that Vic realised she needed to do something radical

Sue Lowry originally trained as an opera singer, but while living in London she fell in love with teaching children with special needs

The actor on the late love of his life, his wife Joan Washington, and the final message she left him (R)

Dr Kira Westaway has been on a ten-year mission to solve the mystery of how, why and when a giant ape called Gigantopithecus Blacki became extinct, and why nothing remains of this beast but thousands and thousands of teeth

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 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 though...

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

Dr Ameliah Scott pilots herself around remote NSW to take care of animals and have a cuppa with their owners.

As a teenager Adele Dumont started pulling out her hair from the root. Eventually she created a bald spot the size of a 20-cent piece at the crown of her head. Adele would sometimes enter a trancelike state, covertly sitting on her bathroom floor, picking at her scalp for hours on end. The urge to pull at her hair was uncontrollable, and secret. When Adele finally put a name to her behaviour, she...

After feeling burnt out, Jackie Carpenter spontaneously applied for NASA's Space Camp. She was the first Australian accepted, and it was the most transformative experience of her life

Julia Baird has been sustained through hard times by acts of "moral beauty". In a world marked by division, these gestures have the power to restore our shared humanity