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
- 2025
- Years Active
- 2017 - 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
Inside the six-day siege of the Iranian Embassy in London
In April 1980, a group of armed men invaded the Iranian Embassy in London, taking hostages, and issuing demands in the name of a cause almost no one had ever heard of.
The 'Group of the Martyr', a c…
00:53:30 |
Thu 26 Jun 2025
Mass murder, cannibalism and insanity — inside Mao's cultural revolution
China's cultural revolution was murderously violent and culturally devastating; millions of people, artefacts and ideas went up in smoke. So what's fuelling today's Neo-Maoist movement and nostalgia …
00:47:36 |
Wed 25 Jun 2025
How I became a brainwashed cult bride
Liz Cameron was 18 years old when a stranger approached her in a book shop. It was the beginning of her induction into a cult, and it was an experience Liz barely survived.
The process of brainwashi…
00:53:31 |
Tue 24 Jun 2025
How I became a brainwashed cult bride
Liz Cameron was 18 years old when a stranger approached her in a book shop. It was the beginning of her induction into a cult, and it was an experience Liz barely survived.
The process of brainwashi…
00:53:31 |
Tue 24 Jun 2025
Encore: the charming Italian narcissist
When Kerstin Pilz found out that her charming husband Gianni had been cheating on her while he was dying and she was taking care of him, she had to decide what to do next (R)
She had fallen madly…
00:54:00 |
Fri 20 Jun 2025
Mr. Finch — deathworker in the tapestry of life
Author Katia Ariel tells the story of Ephraim Finch, a man synonymous with death in the Melbourne Jewish community. He started life as Geoffrey William, the son of a butcher, who would go on to becom…
00:52:25 |
Thu 19 Jun 2025
The mind f**k of pain — retraining your system to tackle chronic pain
Professor Lorimer Moseley is neuroscientist, who specialises in the complexities and mind-boggling nature of pain - what it is, why it exists, how it works and when it can go wrong.
For most of us, …
00:52:42 |
Wed 18 Jun 2025
When Peter Greste became the story
It’s been a decade since Australian journalist Peter Greste became a global news story, spending 400 days imprisoned in Egypt. But he still misses the life he had as a foreign correspondent.
Peter a…
00:53:09 |
Tue 17 Jun 2025
Encore: When success, a big house and a loving family aren't enough
What happens when a man can't stop his drive and desire for more? Author Andrew O'Hagan dissects the pitfalls of more money, more success and more applause (R)
Andrew O’Hagan is the author of severa…
00:51:02 |
Fri 13 Jun 2025
Actor and Hollywood It Girl Ione Skye on surrendering her Rock 'n' Roll past and forgiving herself
The Gen X actor on making peace with her absent father, the ghosts of her Hollywood past and nursing Anthony Kiedis through his drug addiction while she was still a teenager — a relationship she shud…
00:46:30 |
Thu 12 Jun 2025
Our post-American future — what will the new world order look like?
Defence analyst Hugh White says Australian leaders are in denial about how dramatically the world has changed, and need to get a grip on the deep, troubling forces propelling us into a new order of w…
00:52:00 |
Wed 11 Jun 2025
The pyromaniac kid who made barbecue his life
As a child, chef Graeme Stockdale was embarrassed by the smell of sauerkraut and pickles that would trail him from his Polish and German grandparents' home. A transformative encounter with a barbecue…
00:48:06 |
Tue 10 Jun 2025
Encore: Hormones and mental health with Dr Jayashri Kulkarni
Dr Jayashri Kulkarni on her Indian-Australian upbringing and her groundbreaking research into women's hormones and mental health (R)
Jayashri Kulkarni’s family moved from India to Australia in 1961.…
00:52:16 |
Fri 06 Jun 2025
Part TWO: Locked up in China — Cheng Lei on cell mates, singing and survival
Cheng Lei's years in detention in China, on trumped-up espionage charges, go from cruel and isolating, to absurd and romantic when she gets moved into a cell with three other women.
The Chinese-Aust…
00:48:06 |
Thu 05 Jun 2025
Part ONE: Locked up in China — Cheng Lei on state paranoia and staying sane in isolation
When journalist Cheng Lei was detained by Chinese state security agents, she thought would be freed within the week. Instead, she was held on absurd espionage charges for more than three years, much …
00:49:00 |
Wed 04 Jun 2025
Depersonalisation — when Nathan lost his sense of self and nothing felt real
In 2008 Nathan Dunne was night swimming in Hampstead Heath in the middle of winter when a psychological catastrophe struck him. He felt his sense of self split in two, and an unbearable pain overtook…
00:51:54 |
Tue 03 Jun 2025
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are the property of ABC listen. This content is not affiliated with or endorsed by eachpod.com.