Good Weekend Talks

Tennis star Alex de Minaur will lead the homegrown charge in the Australian Open, which begins on Sunday, off the back of a tough 2025. De Minaur spoke to Konrad Marshall for this episode late last year, during a rare and all-too-brief break between seasons. It was an opportunity to ask the tennis champion at length about everything from his lowest point, which he himself calls his rock...

In this week's episode we speak with acclaimed author Helen Garner, who followed the travails of her grandson's footy team for her new book,  The Season . She speaks with Konrad Marshall about what she now envies about male contact sports, the benefit of coming to footy with limited prior knowledge, and the debate over the book's cover image. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

In this episode, we talk to Tim Rogers. Best known as the frontman for rock band You Am I, Rogers was born in Kalgoorlie, WA, but lived all over the country growing up, spending time in Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra, and now, rural Victoria. The 55-year-old has lived a big life so far as a songwriter, raconteur, talking head and author. He's had his struggles and his joys but has remained, as alwa...

In this episode we talk to Jess Cattelly, the co-founder of Sydney swingers club Our Secret Spot. The 32-year-old got into swinging – also known as The Lifestyle - when she was just 20, and her Parramatta Road venue has since become an example of the way in which the swinging community is changing. Middle-class suburban key parties are no longer, nor is the practice as grimy or seedy as popu...

In this episode, we speak with Matthew Walker. The British neuroscience professor is the author of “Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams”, and he’s coming to Australia shortly to speak at Vivid Sydney in conjunction with the Sydney Writers' Festival. Walker has lately become the sleep expert of choice around the world for his deep research and clear thinking abou...

In this episode, we talk to Tania Lacy. The comedy pioneer became one of the biggest stars on Australian television in the 1980s, but at the height of her fame, Lacy seemingly vanished without explanation. In this revealing interview, she opens up about the reasons for her sudden disappearance, including her controversial sacking by the ABC; her addictions to heroin and alcohol; her mental health...

In this episode, we talk to John Polson. You might know him from films such as The Sum of Us and, more recently, The Dry – or for the shows he’s directed including Elementary and The Walking Dead. But you might not know the remarkable story behind Tropfest – long described as the world’s biggest short film festival – which Polson founded and is bringing back after a s...

In this episode, we talk to Mitch Brown. The retired AFL player recently came out as bisexual, making him the first (current or former) openly queer player in the league’s 129-year history. He describes growing up in country Victoria with his twin brother and fellow gifted athlete, Nathan, and how he made the move interstate when drafted by the West Coast Eagles in 2006. Brown played 94 game...

In this episode, we talk to Adam Collins. The Dandenong-raised, London-based commentator, broadcaster, podcaster and author is back in Australia for another summer of cricket, and also to promote his new book, Bedtime Tales for Cricket Tragics  (after last year helping Aussie all-rounder Glenn Maxwell write his memoir,  The Showman ) .  But Collins also had another life in politics....

In this episode, we speak to Helen Goh, who has been writing recipes for the food pages of Good Weekend for eight years. The celebrated cookbook author left Melbourne for London in 2006, when she was 40 - and as luck would have it fell in with Yotam Ottolenghi early in his ascent to global cooking superstardom, becoming a key cooking and testing collaborator. What many don't know is that Goh is al...

In this episode, we speak to Jane Harper. Just under a decade ago, she fulfilled the classic fantasy of closet novelists everywhere, and published a murder mystery called  The Dry , which became an international best seller. Nine years and two children later, she’s written five more hit novels, and is credited with establishing a whole new fictional genre: outback noir. Her sixth book,&...

In this episode we speak to William Dalrymple. The Scottish historian is the author of 10 books, a regular contributor to The Guardian  and  The New Yorker , and host of the popular podcast Empire. A specialist in Indian and Islamic history, Dalrymple first visited the subcontinent as an 18 year old, and knew that it was where he wanted to spend his life. These days he spends most of the...

In this episode, we speak to Ita Buttrose. The former editor, radio broadcaster, TV host and chair of the ABC has long described herself simply as a "journalist" – but that single word doesn't sum up the range of the 83-year-old's six-decade career. Here, the media trailblazer talks to us about being hissed at in testosterone-fuelled newsrooms, and the excitement of launching a magazine duri...

In this episode, we speak to Antonia Marran. The former TV presenter, parenting author and now lawyer and advocate is tasked with managing the legacy of her late father, Antony Kidman, and his pioneering work in adolescent and youth mental health. It's a role for which the experiences of Antonia’s own life have prepared her well. She comes from a tight-knit family (including her sister, the...

In this episode, we speak to Joe Camilleri. The singer, songwriter and sax man is perhaps best known as the one constant in Australian rootsy blues rock band The Black Sorrows, a group that was born more than 40 years ago. The 77 year old musician, however, has been recording and touring for more than six decades, and created more than 50 albums. That includes his latest - The Quintessential Black...

In this episode we talk to author Brigid Delaney, whose writing about her alarmingly numerous misadventures in life belies a more serious, intellectual side. Those two sides came together in her book exploring the wellness industry, Wellmania (comedian Celeste Barber plays a version of Delaney in the Netflix series of the same name). She recently took a dive into stoic philosophy, including the 20...

For decades, families in Australia and overseas, have been accused of one of the worst crimes imaginable. Diagnosing Murder is an investigative podcast about parents who've had their children taken away, sat in the dock and even done time in prison. All for something they insist they didn't do – shake their baby. Can we trust the science behind shaken baby syndrome? Or are innocent people be...

In this episode, we talk to TV and food personality Melissa Leong, the subject of the cover story in Sunday Life's September 28 issue. Leong has worn many hats: talented pianist, advertising executive, food writer and even UFC broadcast host. But it’s the three years she spent as a judge on MasterChef Australia that made her a household name, and also put her under the spotlight. In this int...

In this episode, we talk to Stephanie Lake . The former dancer turned choreographer is the artistic director of Stephanie Lake Company, and also the resident choreographer for The Australian Ballet. She’s the winner of many awards, including the Helpmann, and while her rise was stratospheric, it wasn’t always linear. It was also somewhat delayed: Lake was a late bloomer in her chosen f...

In this episode, we talk to Ken Done. The legendary Australian artist has been splashing colour across canvases for more than four decades, from instantly recognisable depictions of Sydney Harbour to vibrant doona covers and T-shirts. Today he talks about his "Mad Men" days in advertising, the critics and characters that defined his career – as well as the “real reason" he wanted to go...

In this episode, we talk to Elizabeth Gilbert. Her memoir – Eat Pray Love – sold millions, became a hit movie starring Julia Roberts and encouraged readers to embark on their own spiritual journeys. But for the author, it was the death of her new partner many years later that actually helped her find what she was looking for. That’s all detailed in excruciating fashion in her lat...

In this episode, we talk to Cate Campbell. Australian Dolphin number 665 debuted at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 at the tender age of 16. The teenager won two bronze medals at those games, and that was only the beginning. In her 16-year career in the pool, Campbell won eight Olympic medals – four of them gold – and breaking seven world records (her record for the 100-metre short-course...

In this episode, we talk to Andy Griffiths. The children’s author has written 40 books, including The Day My Bum Went Psycho , and the wildly popular Treehouse series. Griffiths has been published in more than 35 countries, and sold an astonishing 13 million copies in Australia and New Zealand alone. He’s led an interesting life, too. He wanted to be a frontman in a punk band, but ende...

In this episode, we talk to Tracey Holmes. The TV trailblazer has spent more than three decades covering Australian sport and dissecting some of the biggest sporting events on the planet, bearing witness to the rise and rise of women's sport, which has had to bust through the walls of misogyny and male chauvinism. Her new book,  The Eye of the Dragonfly  is part memoir, part sporting man...

In this episode, we talk to AFLW star Libby Birch. She's done something no other female or male player has done - winning three premierships at three different clubs, with the Western Bulldogs, the Melbourne Demons and the North Melbourne Kangaroos. Since joining the league in its inaugural season, Birch has also played 91 consecutive games of AFLW (only two women have played more), and at just 27...