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Conversations

Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met. Journey into their world, joining them on epic adventures to unfamiliar places, back in time to wild moments of history, and into their deepest memories, to be moved by personal stories of resilience and redemption. Hosted by Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski, Conversations is the ABC"s most popular long-form interview program. Every day we explore the vast tapestry of human experience, weaving

society & culture relationships

All Episodes

0:50:00

Encore: My eerie week inside Kanye West's Hollywood...

Conversations ·

2026/06/16

Gonzo journalist and writer John Safran on why he decided to squat in a Hollywood mansion belonging to Kanye West.John Safran has made a career out of getting into places he probably shouldn't be, from breaking into Disney Land, to infiltrating fascist strongholds in Australia.A couple of years ago, one of his journalistic expeditions saw him squatting in an abandoned Hollywood mansion belonging Kanye West.John had seen a clip of the hip hop start denying the Holocaust, defending

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0:53:13

Rowing against the current—the Australian heroine of...

Conversations ·

2026/06/15

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic. But one quintessentially Australian story of survival, love and adventure lay dormant for more than a century before journalist and author Lisa Wilkinson raised it from the depths of the Atlantic.Everyone knows the story of the Titanic - the biggest, most magnificent, most expensive ship ever built.It was meant to be unsinkable. But when it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic, it sank, killing 1500 people.For more than

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0:51:00

From party trick to pop star — meet Molly Lewis,...

Conversations ·

2026/06/12

Molly's niche career began over a decade ago when she entered a whistling competition on a whim and she now performs all over the world. Her music sits somewhere between birdsong and the soundtrack to a film noir.Born in Sydney, Molly moved to Hollywood as a baby before returning to Australia for high school in Byron Bay. Once she realised her talent was more than just a hobby for family and friends, she began performing live with musicians in LA and has collaborated with the likes

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0:50:00

Encore: My adventures on the high seas with a...

Conversations ·

2026/06/11

Marele Day is a novelist, but as a young woman looking for adventure, she hitchhiked on a catamaran sailing from Darwin to Sri Lanka.The skipper was a Frenchman, named Jean Day, who revealed on board that he had once done jail time for hijacking a plane.What she only found out later, was that Jean was a fugitive on the run from another high-profile crime.Further informationMarele Day's memoir is called RecklessThis episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2023The producer

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0:53:00

Algorithms, accountability and the...

Conversations ·

2026/06/10

Clinical psychologist and men's mental health researcher Zac Seidler on how boys are being fed increasingly inflammatory content online, and what men can do IRL to offer a version of masculinity that is healthy and vulnerable, instead of hard and dangerous.Many young men are taking a journey on the internet right now which starts with inoffensive self-improvement videos on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, but quickly becomes something else entirely.Young guys are searching the

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0:52:00

Encore: The remarkable life of Professor Richard Scolyer

Conversations ·

2026/06/09

The former Australian of the Year and pioneering cancer researcher, died from brain cancer on Sunday evening.Richard was a world-leading melanoma pathologist and cancer researcher.After his own aggressive brain cancer was diagnosed in 2023, Richard volunteered to be 'patient zero' in an experimental medical approach, which applied some of the discoveries he and his team had made in melanoma treatment. Richard credited much of his determination, optimism, and humility, to his

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0:51:00

How Japanese spirituality can help make everyday life...

Conversations ·

2026/06/08

Growing up in Tokyo, Hiroko Yoda never thought of herself as religious, but after her mother died, she began exploring the spiritual traditions of her homeland.She was inspired by the Shinto idea that there are '8 million spiritual beings', animating everything we encounter.In the different practices of Shintoism, Buddhism, and Shugendo, Hiroko found practical means of emotional support, and also ways of making her everyday life more beautiful.Further informationHiroko Yoda's book

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0:51:48

Hip Hop, home, and humanity—'trials' on reckoning...

Conversations ·

2026/06/05

Dan Rankine (aka 'trials') was the only little Aboriginal boy living in his rural Welsh village when he woke up shaking from a nightmare. That's when he and his mother knew they needed to go home to Adelaide.Dan is now one of Australia's most respected hip hop producers, writers and rappers.Born in Adelaide, Dan spent his early years on the other side of the world - in the rolling, green hills of rural Wales - with his mum, who had fled there from Dan's violent father in the middle

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0:52:14

Learning from the mighty matriarchs of the animal...

Conversations ·

2026/06/04

Erna Walraven was one of the first female zookeepers to work at Sydney's Taronga Zoo in the 1980s. She ignored practical jokes from her male colleagues, like animal dung in her gumboots, and this led to career highlights like travelling the globe to select the zoo's next gorilla patriarch. (R)Erna was born in The Netherlands, to parents who were involved in the Dutch resistance during World War II.Erna's love of languages took her to Spain, where she lived for many years with her

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0:53:08

Brooke Boney quit her ideal job to pursue her secret...

Conversations ·

2026/06/03

The Gamilaroi journalist on the tiny coalmining town that made her and still sustains her, how eating worms led to a job on breakfast TV, and why she's aiming to be a good ancestor in the deep future.Brooke grew up in Muswellbrook, a coal mining town in NSW.She was a smart, high-achieving kid, doing every extra-curricular activity she could fit in.Despite this, she dropped out of high school and didn't finish her education.After a couple of lost years, a kind boyfriend introduced

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0:52:00

Encore: Australia's TV mum Noni Hazlehurst on her...

Conversations ·

2026/06/02

The much loved actor has been on Australian TV screens and theatres for nearly 50 years. (R)Noni Hazlehurst comes from a long line of performers, her parents met while they were part of a touring Variety act in the UK, and her great grandfather was a famous child trapeze artist.Keeping children company on Playschool was one of her best known roles, which she had for 24 years.In Noni’s day, Playschool was recorded in one take, unless one of the presenters swore or was bitten by a

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0:53:12

'Angertainment', algorithms and the online outrage...

Conversations ·

2026/06/01

Political advisor Ed Coper on the cold-blooded machine that is feeding angry people angry content online to make them even angrier, and what we can do about it.Ed Coper is a political advisor and communications consultant who has worked for the Australian Labor Party, and for progressive lobby groups.Over the past few years, he has noticed what everyone else has - people on both sides of the divide becoming increasingly vocal and angry about their politics online.While there's no

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0:52:33

Luke Bateman on surviving a gambling addiction and...

Conversations ·

2026/05/29

The former Canberra Raiders player on hiding his fantasy reading habits as a kid in Western Queensland, the joy of doing hard things, and how books brought him back from the brink. Warning: Discussion of suicide.Luke was a sensitive kid, growing up on a cattle station in Western Queensland. He loved being transported by fantasy novels — following the quests, battles and magic they offered him.Luke found release in these books, beyond the hard work and zipped lips of the strong men

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0:51:42

How a teen father used the local skate park to change...

Conversations ·

2026/05/28

Jayden Sheridan was just 17 years old when he found out he was going to be a father, and immediately Jayden knew he needed to give his son better opportunities than he ever had growing up in regional Victoria. (R)In Seymour, which is one of the most disadvantaged postcodes in Australia, Jayden experienced homelessness, substance abuse, violence and a general lack of direction. He had no male role models in his life, but he did have the local skate park.It's where he went to feel

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0:52:00

Jimmy Wales says it is possible to have a...

Conversations ·

2026/05/27

The Wikipedia co-founder has developed seven rules for building trust to create a better world, both on the internet and IRL.Growing up in Huntsville, Alabama, Jimmy was enamoured with his family's Encyclopaedia Britannica.The city was home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre, and the energy of the place gave a young Jimmy a robust enthusiasm for technology and the future.As a young man, Jimmy developed the idea to start a free, online encyclopaedia, built by strangers and

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0:53:18

Changing prisoners' minds with Vedic meditation at...

Conversations ·

2026/05/26

Joh Jarvis was a high-flying boss when grief from a terrible loss began to overwhelm her. She tried therapy, exercise and healthy eating. Then she found Vedic meditation, and the experience was 'psychedelic'. (R)Joh Jarvis is a Vedic meditation teacher in New York City.On a regular basis Joh travels to the notorious Rikers Island Prison in the Bronx.There, she teaches meditation to men waiting on remand.Inside a prison which is often violent and chaotic, she aims to give them a new

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0:52:29

Patrick Radden Keefe digs into the mysterious death...

Conversations ·

2026/05/25

Staff writer at The New Yorker, Patrick Radden Keefe tells the story of Zac Brettler, who inexplicably changed from a charming and hilarious boy into a money- and status-obsessed young man, who mixed with gangsters and shady businessmen.Patrick's new book begins with the description of a scene that was picked up by a surveillance camera in London in the early hours of a November morning in 2019.The footage showed a grainy image of a shadowy figure, anxiously moving about the

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0:47:00

Special Collection: Alain de Botton on the true...

Conversations ·

2026/05/22

The philosopher argues that as a culture, we'd be happier and saner if we re-examined our view of love, because our romantic notions can actually work against the relationships we want most. (R)Alain De Botton's novel from 2016 called The Course of Love challenges many assumptions about falling in love and what comes next.Alain first tackled the subject when he wrote Essays of Love in his early 20s.The episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2016The producer was Michelle

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0:47:00

Special Collection: Transforming trauma with Gabor Mate

Conversations ·

2026/05/21

The renowned physician discusses the role of trauma in our lives, showing up as addiction, chronic disease and mental illness, and how recognising his own led to true healing. (R)Dr Gabor Maté was born in Budapest to a Jewish family, just before Nazi tanks rolled into the city.His mother risked handing him to a stranger on the street to try and get him to safety.Many years later, after establishing himself as a successful physician in Canada, Gabor looked at the problems in his

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0:48:00

Special Collection: How I made peace with my mother...

Conversations ·

2026/05/20

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. (R)Diana Nguyen knew she was born for a life on the stage when she discovered dancing while staying in a nunnery as a child.Her love affair with the arts, however, fractured her relationship with her mother, who had escaped Vietnam by boat and wanted her eldest daughter to be 'more' than a performer.But a

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