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 together narratives from history, science, art, and personal storytelling.
Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more at the Conversations website.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 50 minutes
- Episodes
- 2021
- Years Active
- 2017 - 2025
Crushing on Aladdin and Nigella Lawson — how Daniel learnt to love himself
Writer and journalist Daniel Nour on the pressures of his vivacious Egyptian-Australian family, and 'inviting people in' instead of 'coming out'.
Daniel grew up in Sydney's Sutherland Shire, the onl…
00:51:30 |
Wed 30 Jul 2025
The walking nun — Sister Clare Nolan on entering the convent and saving lives
Sister Clare Nolan was the head of nursing at St Vincent's Hospital when the HIV/AIDS epidemic reached Australia. She met with politicians, brothel workers and gay activists in the same room to work …
00:50:48 |
Tue 29 Jul 2025
Encore: What does a 'disaster specialist' actually do and how do they survive?
When there's a plane crash, a bomb blast, a flood or a pandemic, Lucy Easthope's phone starts ringing. This is how she stays cheerful and trusts her gut in the face of never-ending disasters. (R)
Wh…
00:52:00 |
Fri 25 Jul 2025
Miss Australia, gangland girlfriend, counsellor and criminal: Felicia Djamirze's story
Felicia Djamirze grew up in the criminal underworld, then became a beauty queen. But her life outside the pageant circuit was mired in the world of drugs, bikie gangs and violence.(CW: graphic discus…
00:50:42 |
Thu 24 Jul 2025
A Dad's mission to save his daughter, and conquer cancer
Matt Dun left school at 17 to join the Australian navy as a submariner and later finished his high school certificate as an adult attending TAFE at night.
He then trained in biomedical science and w…
00:50:16 |
Wed 23 Jul 2025
Teaching Nina Simone how to love me: a daughter's story
Singer Lisa Simone is the only person in the world who can call Nina Simone 'mommy'. Lisa was the beneficiary of Nina's incredible talent and her affection, but she was also at the mercy of her mothe…
00:52:20 |
Tue 22 Jul 2025
Encore: The secret world of servos after dark
David Goodwin spent years working the graveyard shift at his local service station in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. The grungy work quickly took over his life (R).
He took the job to support his u…
00:50:33 |
Fri 18 Jul 2025
Dr Rangan Chatterjee on health and healing in a hectic world
As a boy, Dr Rangan Chatterjee saw his dad work day and night as a doctor before succumbing to an auto-immune disease. After his father's death in 2013, Rangan had an epiphany about his own future.
…
00:48:00 |
Thu 17 Jul 2025
The hidden corners of Emma's Hong Kong — fishing villages, beaches and ancestral graveyards
Novelist Emma Pei Yin ran away from Hong Kong as a teenager to start fresh in Australia. But she found herself repeatedly drawn back home whenever she put pen to paper.
Emma grew up in England and H…
00:49:18 |
Wed 16 Jul 2025
AFL star Zach Tuohy on his silent struggles as a young father and life after footy
Zach was still a teen when he was scouted by the AFL in Ireland, beginning a great adventure in Australia, where he fell in love and unexpectedly became a dad. On his way home from training, a 24-yea…
00:52:06 |
Tue 15 Jul 2025
Encore: Janty Blair is the BMW of standup comics
After a lifetime of nursing and midwifery, Janty Blair discovered her funny bone in her late 50s, following a serendipitous Bumble date (R).
Janty's father, Bob, was a staff sergeant in the Australi…
00:47:00 |
Fri 11 Jul 2025
Leah Purcell's meteoric rise, from the Murgon meatworks to centre stage
Leah Purcell grew up in a small town caring for her mum Florence. Her options after graduation were nursing or working at the meatworks. But after a push from her meatworks boss, Leah defied her own …
00:52:30 |
Thu 10 Jul 2025
How a boy from Balmain made caring cool
Bundjalung man, Jack Manning Bancroft's scholarship to a prestigious Sydney University college showed him a rarefied world that shocked him, and he used his childhood grit to channel his energy into …
00:50:34 |
Wed 09 Jul 2025
A family secret unearths connection to country
Yvonne Orley grew up on Aboriginal missions in NSW as the child of the matron and manager. But it turned out that Yvonne had much deeper connections to the country, and the people, that she knew at …
00:45:30 |
Tue 08 Jul 2025
Encore: Love, jail, Jesus, and pubs — a tangled tale of four very different parents
Lech Blaine with the strange true story of his childhood, shaped by love, religious zealotry, and four wildly different parents. CW: descriptions of foster care and child removal.
Lech grew up in a…
00:52:06 |
Fri 04 Jul 2025
Love, jail, Jesus, and pubs — a tangled tale of four very different parents
Lech Blaine with the strange true story of his childhood, shaped by love, religious zealotry, and four wildly different parents. CW: descriptions of foster care and child removal. Lech grew up in a…
00:52:06 |
Fri 04 Jul 2025
When a sea change collides with messy midlife
For journalist Kate Halfpenny, moving to a beachside town during Melbourne's lockdowns seemed like the perfect way to unwind and escape her huge mortgage. Then she had to contend with the triple wham…
00:52:34 |
Thu 03 Jul 2025
Hannah vs Disney, Lizzo and Beyonce
Hannah Diviney made history in 2022 when she became the first person with a disability to film a sex scene for Australian television. Then she went viral when she confronted both Lizzo and Beyonce ov…
00:51:01 |
Wed 02 Jul 2025
Purity, hypnosis and hiding — how a gay teen survived Opus Dei
Hollywood actor Tim Pocock was tricked by his dying, devout mother into undergoing gay conversion therapy. After she died, Tim finally learned how to be himself, without fear and self-loathing.
Tim …
00:52:30 |
Tue 01 Jul 2025
Encore: my three fathers
American novelist Ann Patchett reflects on Frank, Mike and Darrell, the men who made her, going a year without shopping and her power to make herself invisible (R)
Ann Patchett is an acclaimed Ameri…
00:50:00 |
Fri 27 Jun 2025
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