Conversations

Don Walker has written some of Australia's greatest songs, and they keep coming. But rock and roll's resident 'quiet bloke' could have led a very different life

Adventurers and extreme athletes, who jump off bridges and walk across deserts, have a reputation for being fearless daredevils who take unnecessary risks. But sport psychologist Dr Eric Brymer says feeling fear is vital to the mind of the adventurer

Historian Peter Frankopan on how the earth's climate has shaped human history

Two-time World Debating champion Bo Seo on how love and listening can improve how we disagree 

The bull rider and horsewoman has lived a life full of danger and drama, at the rodeo and outside it. Di's incredible experiences have taught her to lean into fear, rather than avoid it

From the naked athletes of Ancient Greece to the Jane Fonda revolution of the last century, sport and exercise have had a surprising hold on humans

As a young woman craving adventure, Marele Day hitchhiked on a catamaran sailing across the Indian Ocean. After befriending the French skipper, Marele discovered years later that he was a fugitive on the run.

Ky Furneaux spent 16 years in Hollywood as a professional stunt performer, falling, fighting and breaking glass on cue. She has managed to make her next life even more extreme — surviving in the wild, sometimes with just a knife, often naked (R)

 Damian Callinan with the grand love story of his parents Adrian and Kathleen, who met in 1946 at a football match. They were together for 62 years before a terrible accident changed everything (R)

Benjamin Dreyer has strong ideas about the English language, and how to transform books into the best possible versions of themselves. But he's not a member of the grammar police

Pádraig Ó Tuama survived conversion therapy and exorcism as a young gay man in a church in Ireland, then became a leading peace negotiator and a poet. Pádraig Ó Tuama grew up in the South of Ireland, and spent a long time not knowing quite where he fit in. He loved poetry, and prayer and talking to people so he decided to become a Priest. But a realisation about his sexuality began a struggle with...

Paul McVerry is an experienced cattleman and a stud breeder, who had a vision to fly a gift of cattle to India with the help of Dan Murphy

For Jenny Graves, the genetic history of Australia's unique wildlife holds a key to the future of human evolution.

Benjamin is an adventure paraglider and documentary maker. One day, while paragliding in central Mexico, he was forced to make a sudden landing in an isolated valley. There he encountered a vast swarm of millions of monarch butterflies, carpeting the forest floor and tree trunks. This experience led him to replicate the Herculean migration of this seemingly common butterfly. He launched his own fl...

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason on what it takes to keep up with her seven children — all of them gifted classical musicians (R)

The ABC Sports presenter describes his life at 17, a year dominated by football, girls, beer, and a serial killer stalking his neighbourhood (R)

Toni Jordan grew up working in a TAB and going to the greyhound races. Then she grew up to become a best-selling novelist

Sophie Matterson fell in love with camels at first sniff. After working with them for years, she hatched a plan to walk across the vast Australian continent with five humped companions - Jude, Delilah, Charlie, Clayton and Mac

Dean Laws was in his 50s when doctors told him he had Parkinson's disease. For a time, he was devastated. Then he formed a running crew with his friends called 'The Dean Team', and made a plan to run the Sydney Marathon

Barry Humphries was a legend of the screen and stage, but throughout his career, he remained astonished at the success of Dame Edna and her enduring appeal

Annette Trevitt with a tale of real estate, family and complicated grief set in the Pilbara mining town of Karratha

He's one of the world's most acclaimed opera stars, but Teddy Tahu Rhodes did everything he could, for a very long time, to avoid his destiny on stage (R)

Om Dhungel grew up in Bhutan, where his people became the target of a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign. Overnight Om became a refugee, eventually rebuilding his life and family in his beloved new home of Blacktown

Jackie Huggins with the story of her father Jack, who was a surf lifesaver, a rugby league player, a soldier taken prisoner in the Fall of Singapore, and the first Indigenous Australian to work in the post office (R)

Only six men, out of thousands, survived the horrors of the infamous Sandakan POW camp. Bill Sticpewich was one of them