Conversations

Miranda's story from growing up in Kakadu National Park as a Larrakia Tiwi girl, to finding fame in The Sapphires, and co-creating Top End Wedding, the first romantic comedy set in the Northern Territory

Sheila Heti on the life of Finnish writer Tove Jansson who created the Moomins, and some of her own reflections on her choice about whether or not to become a mother

Helen recently published her diaries from the years 1978 to 1987. They include her thoughts on writing and work, parenting, love affairs, and the quest for the right pair of shoes (R)

Rutger Bregman takes a new look at the accepted idea that humans are just one disaster away from bad behaviour. He says our species' survival has long depended on the best aspects of our nature, such as kindness and the sharing of ideas

When Hayley moved to a cattle property to live with her farmer girlfriend, the rural idyll wasn't quite as she imagined

A new conversation with the Irish novelist, on what it means to be a grown up, and standing her ground on Ireland’s moral questions

Young Robert Lukins modelled himself on the fictional character Adrian Mole, a prodigious reader and writer (R)

Sandy was teaching at a school in the English countryside when he set off in a Mirror dinghy, intending to sail as far as Gloucester (R)

How a group of financiers from a poor and damp island on the outer rim of Europe created a private company which came to rule India (R)

Tony Wilson was always drawn to the world's great speeches. Then, without warning, he was called on to make the most difficult speech of his life

Naomi is an American poet and author living in San Antonio, Texas. Her family story is marked by life-changing coincidences, and narrow escapes

How Shannon Molloy survived the worst year of his life, as a gay teenager at an all boys' school on the coast of Central Queensland

A much-loved performer digs into the challenging truth of her father's past (R)

While confined to a hospital room for months with a rare form of tuberculosis, Christiaan found love and an entirely new path in life

Tom Keneally with the story of Edward 'Plorn' Dickens who was sent to live in Australia when he was sixteen in the hope he might redeem himself

In 2015, Sydney boxer Davey died of brain swelling after he was knocked out in the ring. When journalist and boxer Stephanie Convery reported on the inquest, she found a sport in a collective state of denial

When therapist Lori Gottlieb found herself in therapy after a devastating breakup, she began to rethink her own life story

A songwriter's songwriter, John turned his often bemused view of people and politics into songs for fifty years (R)

Astronaut Jim Bagian on working, eating and sleeping in micro-gravity while orbiting the earth at 28 000 kilometres an hour

Kate Leaver became fascinated by the curative qualities of dogs after her Shih Tzu Bertie helped her through her darkest days

Biographer Ann Blainey with the tale of Smithy, king of the Milky Way, and his audacious flight across the Pacific in his plane the Southern Cross (R)

How a lifetime exploring different landscapes inspires the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, who's also one of the world's most prolific writers (R)

Walking the Sahara, towards the fabled city of Timbuktu and into Niger (R)

A breathtaking Saharan adventure: camels, bandits and one fearless woman (R)

A writer recalls the precious stretch of time between the birth of his son, and the death of his father (R)