The Good Life: Andrew Leigh in Conversation

Wendy Harmer has spent decades shaping Australian comedy, journalism and media, from the newsroom floor to the stand-up stage, from comedy to breakfast radio and the ABC. In this episode, Wendy talks about growing up in country Victoria, building resilience through childhood adversity, becoming one of the first female reporters at the Geelong Advertiser. Wendy reflects on the golden age of Austral...

As part of the ANU Meet the Author series, I interviewed Anna Goldsworthy on stage about her new Quarterly Essay, “The God We Made. The Threat and Promise of Artificial Intelligence”.

Martin McKenzie-Murray is The Saturday Paper's associate editor, staff writer for The Monthly, a two-time Walkley finalist and winner of the Melbourne Press Club's Quill Award for commentary. He has worked as a teacher, speechwriter, columnist for The Age and adviser to the chief commissioner of Victoria Police. His first book, A Murder Without Motive, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Awards for...

Grace Adams is the CEO of Effective Altruism Australia. To find out more or make a donation, go to https://effectivealtruism.org.au/eofy/ You can find Grace's podcast 'More Than Good by Effective Altruism Australia' here: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ea_aus   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2TffN3nE1zniT1Mm3VjTdo  

Ant Williams knows what it means to perform under pressure. A world-record freediver, he has held his breath for more than eight minutes, dived 100 metres on a single breath, and swum 182 metres beneath solid Arctic ice.  In this episode of The Good Life, Ant talks about learning from discomfort, building mental toughness, training for pain, facing risk, and why he believes courage can be practise...

Mark Fabian is associate professor of public policy at the University of Warwick, UK. He is also an affiliate researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge University, and an associate at the Institute for Social Change at the University of Tasmania. In his latest book he challenges our ideas of happiness. From the hedonic treadmill to self-actualisation, he explains why frust...

On 11 June 2025, I joined UNSW Professor Toby Walsh on stage in Canberra at an ANU-Canberra Times Meet the Author event, to discuss Toby’s new book “The Shortest History of AI”.

This week New York Times-bestselling author Alex Hutchinson returns to the podcast to talk about his latest book ‘The Explorer's Gene’. 

On 12 March 2025, at an ANU-Canberra Times Meet the Author event, I interviewed Robert Dessaix about his new book ‘Chameleon’. This is a record fourth appearance for Robert on the Good Life podcast (his past fascinating chats are episodes 27, 136 and 172).

Matthew Halteman is a professor of philosophy at Calvin University in Michigan and a fellow in the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. We spoke about his new book “Hungry Beautiful Animals: The Joyful Case for Going Vegan”, which was published in November 2024 by Basic Books.

Shaun Micallef on Laughter, Stepping Up and Stepping Back

Dave Eccles and Tadgh Kennelly on Blokes Bonding on Beaches.   To find out more about WNOW visit https://www.wnow.com.au/  

Nina Jankowicz and Van Badham on Online Misogyny Nina Jankowicz, American disinformation expert and author of  How to Lose the Information War and How to Be a Woman Online , and Van Badham, activist, playwright, and author of QAnon and On discuss disinformation, online harms, and their effect on elections in 2024 and beyond.

Lucas Patchett on front loaders, friends & founding Orange Sky - To volunteer with Orange Sky, go to orangesky.org.au

185. Sean Turnell on Finding Hope in Myanmar's Most Notorious Jail

184. Tanya Plibersek on crime fiction

Pat Farmer on Running Across Continents 

Dana Suskind on building a parent nation

On 3 October 2023, I joined Chris Hammer on stage at an ANU / Canberra Times Meet the Author event to discuss crime fiction writing, with a particular focus on his latest book, “The Seven”.  

On 28 September 2023, I joined Catharine Lumby on stage at an ANU / Canberra Times Meet the Author event to discuss her new biography of Frank Moorhouse.

To make a donation to support Blue Dragon Children Foundation, go to www.bluedragon.org   Michael’s blog is at lifeisalongstory.com

Emma Johnston on seas, science and sailing 

Richard Reeves on boys and men

Tim Winton on landscape, words and activism