Conversations

Artist Ken Done grew up in a country town in NSW, drawing, fishing and listening to the Argonauts. Before he became a became a full-time artist, he had a wild career in advertising in the 1960s

Greg Fisher, CEO of Sydney's first queer museum, wanted to replicate his family's warm, loving spirit with his own future family. He and his wife didn't see his being gay as an obstacle

Niki Savva has seen ten prime ministers move in and out of the lodge during her decades as a political reporter, but one of those leaders stood out to her from the rest

Linguist Kate Burridge with the story of how Old English began on a small, damp island on the periphery of the world (R)

Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith on the mystery of the octopus and giant cuttlefish, and why cephalopods are the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien

Victor's refugee mother was widowed at a young age, his grandparents were tortured and killed by the Soviets, but Victor says he comes from four generations of radical optimists

When Eva's parents fled from their home in communist Poland, she was told to "ask no questions". But once she got to the 'free world' she couldn't stop asking questions, trying to reclaim her stolen childhood

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

Gruen's Dee Madigan on her turbulent early life as one of four children to a former Catholic Priest 

Nick Cave on how living through addiction, love and unthinkable loss has changed his inner life

Michael's professional rugby career came to a brutal end after dozens of concussions took their toll on his brain

When acrobat and circus performer Anna Yen decided to become a playwright, in the process of finding out her family stories she unearthed a new facet of Australia’s Chinese history

Sarah Parry first saw a tall ship sailing into Sydney Harbour in 1965. Two decades later, in an abandoned Hobart warehouse, she began building her own full-sized Square Rigger from scratch. In the process, she realised it was time to change her own life

Hannah Kent with the true story of the Prussians who fled Europe for a new life in South Australia (R)

After the loss of his mum Carol, James Crawley tried to push down his own grief. Then he watched 35 hours of raw and turbulent footage of his Dad Richard grieving in real time (CW: loss, grief and drug use)

David Heilpern with stories of drama, crime and heartache from his 21 years as a country magistrate (CW: references to drug use and sexual assault) (R)

Heather Rose  on her decades-long quest to make peace with life and loss after a tragedy befell her family when she was a girl (CW: grief and loss)

Paulie Stewart made a name for himself as the frontman of legendary Melbourne punk band Painters and Dockers, but he's also spent much of his life campaigning on behalf of the people of East Timor

The singer-songwriter shares memories of her mother's sacred, ancestral mountain, surviving childhood cancer and being rescued via a message on AM radio after a double volcanic eruption in Papua New Guinea (R) (CW: Some listeners may find parts of this conversation upsetting. Please use discretion when listening)

The Danish-British author and comedian on her father's laissez faire attitude to school, and how this opened her mind and brought her to NASA's mission control room for the moon landing of 1969

Diana Nguyen's mother would walk out of her performances at interval in protest of her career, but Diana forged on and in the process healed this mother-daughter relationship

Almost half of Australian adults struggle with some level of literacy — writing a shopping list, or reading a text message in private. Jo helps her students turn their lives around

The French horn is made up of metres and metres of brass coiled around and around until it opens into a big bell. Let Peter Luff lead you through the maze of this mysterious instrument

Peter FitzSimons has written many books on Australian military history, but pulling out the remarkable stories from the Battle of Long Tan was a long process, despite the fact that many of the participants in this great defining moment are still alive

Animal communication specialist, Justin Gregg on killer whales' grief behaviour, the Piping Plover's broken wing strategy, and what would happen if humans toned down the need to be 'why specialists'