Conversations

Helen Elliott — Not Quite What I Had Planned

24 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Helen was working as a psychologist when she became so ill she was held in a locked psychiatric ward. There she was given ECT, one of the most extrem...

Zenith Virago — Not Quite What I Had Planned

23 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Zenith Virago married at seventeen, and had two children. Then she left her young family to create a life of her own on the other side of the world ...

Akmal Saleh — Not Quite What I Had Planned

22 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When Akmal and his wife decided to have a treechange by moving to Byron Bay, almost immediately a comedy of errors ensued, involving a python in the ...

From having a severe stutter to becoming the man with the magnificent voice - James Earl Jones

21 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How the man who voiced Darth Vader and Mufasa overcame a childhood stutter to build a career on his rich, resonant voice (R)James grew up with a stut...

Dave Graney — a musician's take on the art of the bludge

18 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dave looks back on the many forms of employment and unemployment to have sustained him as a hard working musician (R)

The Salami Sisters, Puberty Blues, and beyond

17 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the late 70s, Gabrielle Carey co-wrote a blisteringly honest novel about the real lives of teenage surfie chicks in Cronulla which caused a storm ...

The story of a tank named Mephisto

16 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why the only remaining WW1 German A7V tank is in Brisbane, Australia (R)

A Herdwick shepherd's epiphany

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A new conversation with James Rebanks on how he saved his family farm by returning to ancient ways of growing crops and meadows

Mudlarking and beachcombing — a family story of London rubbish

10 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Lisa Woollett's family made their living from combing through London's waste for treasures. Her great-grandfather was a scavenger and her grandad was...

Bangarra's bold leader: Stephen Page

09 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When they were kids, Stephen and his brothers would climb onto the laundry roof and put on a show for their neighbourhood. Stephen's since made an ex...

How Dyarubbin became the crucible of a colony

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Grace Karskens with the story of the riverlands of the Hawkesbury-Nepean, where ancient and modern Australia first collided

Maggie Dent - helping teenage boys grow into good men

07 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Maggie grew up around boys, then raised four sons of her own. Now she helps parents understand the changes teenage boys are going through as they cro...

Ivan Milat, tribal law, and making my father proud — Andrew Boe's story

04 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew was a 4 year old when his family migrated to Australia from Burma. By his mid-20s he had his own criminal law practice. When he took on a clie...

One thumb, one toe — Billy's escape from paralysis

03 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When a powerful wave he was riding sent him smashing into the sand, breaking his neck, former Army Ranger Billy Hedderman came within a breath of dyi...

Craig Foster's fight to save Hakeem

02 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After young Australian soccer player Hakeem al-Araibi was imprisoned in Thailand, Craig fought the power of two monarchies, a military junta, and the...

Geoff Goodfellow's poetry captures the spirit of working-class Australia

01 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A former boxer and builder's labourer, Geoff is now a highly successful poet (R)

The amazing life of Frida DeGuise

31 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How a girl from the suburbs of Melbourne grew up to become Australia's first female Muslim standup comedian

Melina Marchetta — that Italian girl

28 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The true story behind Looking for Alibrandi (R)

Richard Fidler's Prague

28 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Richard shares stories gathered while writing his biography of the city of Prague. Some emerged from his research trip of 2019, others involved deep ...

Taking your cat for a walk and why dogs never stop loving — Jeffrey Masson

27 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jeff's latest book on animal behaviour tackles grief — the loss we feel when a beloved pet dies, as well as the understanding other species have of...

Timothy Spall — the British actor digs deep on screen and in life

26 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Timothy’s stellar career, including roles in ‘Mr Turner’, ‘Secrets and Lies’, the Harry Potter films, and his latest, ‘Mrs Lowry & So...

Ray versus the road toll — a lifelong campaign against road deaths

25 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Raymond Shuey saved countless lives during his career with Victoria Police, driving significant change to road rules, as well as how police respon...

The great hope of Isaiah Dawe

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Isaiah lived in 17 places in his first 18 years, none of them with his parents. Now he's established an organisation to give Indigenous young people ...

A daughter's unswerving love — Sarah Holland-Batt and her father

21 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Holland-Batt's dad Tony was a loving father, her intellectual mentor and her friend. At 18, she became one of his carers. Later she battled an ...

The ancient trails of the South East Forests

20 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After decades walking in the South East Forests of NSW, John Blay thought he knew them well. Then Indigenous friends showed him the Bundian Way, a tr...

Dylan Moran and the white-knuckle ride of standup

19 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dylan Moran on his County Meath childhood, making Black Books, and why he gave up drinking for good (R)

Rozanna's curious life

18 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rozanna Lilley was raised in a bohemian household by her parents, writers Dorothy Hewett and Merv Lilley. In her early teens, her childhood was carel...

Walking from Camooweal to Birdsville with nine goats

17 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Owen Davies on his 98-day trek with goats and dogs, walking more than 990 kilometres down the Georgina River in outback Queensland (R)

The brutal and beautiful world of Australia's native bees

14 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sugarbag bees who headbutt their queen to death are among the many Australian bee species which fascinate ecologist Toby Smith (R)

Stranded — what Claire learned from falling

13 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Claire Nelson was in the Joshua Tree National Park hiking alone when she strayed from the trail and slipped, shattering her pelvis. Her phone was out...

Falling for a fake

12 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Stephanie Wood was a successful, confident journalist when she fell for a romantic fraudster (R)

The apartment on Memorial Drive

11 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Natasha Trethewey was 19 when her mother Gwendolyn was brutally murdered. During this great rupture in her life Natasha began to garner acclaim for h...

The Weabonga lessons

10 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Peter O'Brien was a new minted teacher in 1960 when he took a job at a one-room bush school in Weabonga, NSW. The living was hard, but the job was in...

Myth and Legend — Kate Forsyth on the dark origins of beloved fairytales

07 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The stories which preceded modern iterations of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood were often much more disturbing (R)

Myth and Legend — Battles, fairie curses and the evil eye: why old Irish tales still delight us

06 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Irish novelist Paedar O'Guilin weaves old myths into startling new stories (R)

Myth and Legend — the creation of Wonder Woman

05 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Jill Lepore untangles the secret history of one of the 20th Century's most striking superheroes. She explains the myths, politics and eccen...

Myth and Legend — Neil Gaiman on classic Norse mythology

04 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Neil explores some of the stories from Nordic mythology which have captivated him since childhood (R)

Myth and Legend — the monsters and morals of Sarah Perry

03 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah's life took a gothic turn as she crafted her version of Melmoth (R)

The world of the holocaust's 'hide-away' children

30 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Author Bart van Es with the story of the young Jewish girl Lien de Jong, hidden by Bart's Dutch grandparents during WWII when they joined the resista...

Bronze age pigs and ancient dingoes — stories from the bones

29 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How zooarchaeologist Melanie Fillios uses the remains and fossils of animals, including dingoes, to understand more about ancient humans

The sister who stayed behind

28 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Favel Parrett’s grandmother fled Prague as a teenager, but her sister stayed on, and then lived through both Nazism and Stalinism (R)

Stan Grant's life in storytelling

27 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Stan Grant on his life as a journalist, author and filmmaker from the Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharawal First Nations of Australia

Swimming, the Sisters of Mercy, and the search for meaning

24 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

At 15, Rebecca McCabe was on track to compete in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics for swimming. As swam, she would often ask herself big questions about...

Fascinating fungi — the intelligent kingdom

23 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Biologist Merlin Sheldrake's extreme experiments, many of which involve his physical body and varying forms of fungi, have led to equally remarkable ...

Rise and fall of the Rock Star

22 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

David Hepworth charts our fascination with that most earth-bound of gods, the rock star; and discusses some of music history's striking examples

Eddie Woo on finding the right formula

21 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Despite never really liking maths at school, Eddie made up his mind in the teaching sign-on queue, to become a maths teacher. This split-second decis...

Floating though the dolines

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Cave diver Stefan Eberhard has spent decades exploring the vast underwater caves of the Nullarbor Plains, where the water teems with blind shrimp and...

From a mountain monastery

17 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Haller grew up Catholic in Belfast, and his pursuit of meaning has since taken him around the world. Now a Zen priest, Zen practice and teaching...

Lying on the job — the story of an undercover officer

16 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Keith Banks spent twenty years in his dream career with the Queensland Police. He was awarded for bravery several times, but left the job angry and d...

Bill Bryson and the wonders of the human body

15 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why is scratching an itch so pleasurable? How can someone leap from a burning plane in the sky and survive with a few bumps and scratches? A journey ...

Territory taxidermist — Jared Archibald

14 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jared spent his childhood behind the scenes at the Museum of the Northern Territory, up close to prehistoric kangaroo fossils, opulent trading pearls...

Nardi Simpson on Crocodile Country

13 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Yuwaalaraay writer, storyteller and performer, Nardi Simpson of the Stiff Gins talks about her life, art and the meaning of country

A boy, his pony and the Sydney Harbour Bridge

10 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Lennie Gwyther was 9 years old when he rode Ginger Mick from country Victoria to Sydney to be at the opening of the Bridge (R)

In Pico Iyer's Japan the air is thronged with ghosts

09 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Pico was a journalist in New York when a 20-hour layover at Narita airport in Japan made him question everything. He decided to begin again as a monk...

The raptor whisperer

08 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Peggy McDonald has spent much of her life as wildlife carer who specialises in helping wedge-tail eagles, falcons, owls and other raptors recover the...

Magic mushrooms, micro-dosing and Michael Pollan

07 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How Michael Pollan 'shook the snowglobe' of his mind by investigating the therapeutic effects of psychedelic substancesIn 2006 writer Michael Pollan ...

The epic hunt for the deadly Taipan

03 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Brendan James Murray on the elusive copper-coloured snake species which terrorised post WWII North Queensland (R)

Not your average dentist

02 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sharonne Zaks was working as a dentist when an encounter with a patient named Anna led her to develop a radical new branch of dentistry (R)

The life of 'Mr Eternity'

01 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Arthur Stace rose before dawn to write a one-word sermon in chalk on the footpaths of Sydney. Writer Roy Williams unear...

Leigh Sales and the days after the worst possible day

30 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Leigh went through an event in 2014 which changed her profoundly. She was left questioning how we cope when the unimaginable happens (R)

Tim Rogers' daydreams

29 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The frontman of You Am I on his life in music, his Kalgoorlie childhood, and his battles with anxiety (R)

Reframing identity through motherhood and marriage with Glennon Doyle

26 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Glennon made a big name for herself in the US as a ‘Christian mommy blogger’ with her candid and often hilarious writing when she fell wildly in ...

Deborah Feldman: rejecting my Hasidic roots

25 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Deborah Feldman grew up inside the claustrophobic world of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect in Brooklyn, and as a teenager she was married off to...

The daredevil of Monte Cristo

24 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Lawrence Ryan grew up in a dilapidated Victorian-era homestead called Monte Cristo. From when he was young, he knew he'd grow up to become a professi...

Peter Norman and the day that shook the Olympic movement

23 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Matt Norman's late uncle Peter won a silver medal at the 1968 Olympics, then was notoriously cast out of Australian sport (R)

The Nazi Brigadeführer who got away

22 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Philippe Sands on how a cache of letters sent him on the trail of Nazi war criminal Otto Von Wachter, who escaped to Rome on the 'Ratline'

The women of Steel City

19 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Robynne Murphy, film-maker and former steel worker, on the Wollongong women who took on BHP for the right to work alongside men at the steelworks

What Jack Reacher did next

18 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How a Birmingham boy became best-selling thriller writer, Lee Child (R)

How Johnathan Thurston became one of the greats

17 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When Johnathan was a boy he was written off as too skinny and too wild for rugby league (R)

Jesse Blackadder: when Lucie left

16 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The late writer with the story of a terrible accident in 1976 which completely changed her family (R)

Outposts — what Dan found at the ends of the Earth

15 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Richards follows his curiosity to some of the most remote habitable places in the world including an Icelandic cabin and a monastery high in the ...

Vika and Linda Bull — on song and in harmony

12 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Hearing their Tongan mother’s powerful voice rise above the congregation in church, primed Vika and Linda for a life in song. Their distinctive har...

The girl from Kilkivan

11 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the midst of Lisa Millar's brilliant career as a journalist, she found herself in the grip of aviophobia, a crippling fear of flying (R)

Opium everywhere — on the trail of the 'Milk of Paradise'

10 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Lucy Inglis on humankind's greatest painkiller and how its trade and cultivation are threaded through the story of civilisation, and the li...

The comic genius of Jennifer Saunders

09 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The co-creator of Absolutely Fabulous says her success rests on a series of happy accidents and calls herself an extreme procrastinator (R)

Conspiracy theories and me

08 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When Danna Young's husband Mike received a terrible diagnosis, she found herself drawn to conspiracy theories in the search to find someone, or somet...

Comedian Hannah Gadsby on trauma, critics and the point of no return

05 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Australian comedian on Nanette, her 'farewell' to stand up comedy; being diagnosed with high-functioning autism as an adult; and on Douglas, the show...

Pasi Sahlberg — making school the happiest place to be

04 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When Pasi was a boy he would sneak into his father's empty schoolroom in northern Finland and pretend to be a teacher. Now he's one of the world's le...

Talking magpies, grieving tawny frogmouths and canny galahs

03 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Gisela Kaplan fell under the spell of birds when she hand-reared a magpie nestling. When it learned to speak, she was so intrigued she switched caree...

Voicing velociraptors and capturing the dawn chorus — the soundscapes of Douglas Quin

02 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Meet a sound designer and naturalist who makes field recordings all over the world. He then puts them to use in soundscapes for film and television, ...

Uncle Jack Charles — not true blue, true blak

01 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Uncle Jack was forcibly removed from his mother as a baby and denied his Aboriginality. A one-off trip to Fitzroy connected him with a family he didn...

From the Festivals — Tim Flannery on Europe's bizarre prehistory

29 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Europe's startling deep past explained: pygmy dinosaurs, blue-eyed Neanderthals; and how an asteroid the size of Manhattan ruptured everything (R)

From the Festivals — Andrew Sean Greer

28 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Pulitzer Prize winning author of Less was working as an odd-jobs man for an Italian Baroness when a phone call upended his life (R)

From the Festivals — Cheryl Strayed

27 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Walking through grief and facing up to life on the Pacific Crest Trail, the true story of Wild (R)

From the Festivals — Lemn Sissay

26 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Celebrated British poet Lemn Sissay grew up not knowing his given name or his Ethiopian parents. His life was shaped by being adopted, and then raise...

From the Festivals — James Rebanks the Herdwick shepherd

25 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

James explains the traditions, language and pleasures of shepherding in England's Lake District (R)

Chasing Robert Cutter

22 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When Darleen Bungey set out to uncover her father's past she discovered a Hollywood heartthrob and a singer whose records outsold Bing Crosby's

Maira Kalman: 'I fall in love so many times during the day'

21 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Maira's daily life as a New York-based artist who likes to paint trees, dogs and hats, and why the contents of her mother's closet became famous

The pigment whisperer

20 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

One of the world's only master paint-makers, David Coles on how he found a life creating colours like Lapis Blue and Rose Madder (R)

This is your Captain speaking

19 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On 9/11 Captain Beverley Bass diverted her American Airlines jet to a tiny town in Newfoundland, along with thousands of other airspace refugees (R)

With a shark under each arm: Dr Fish Feelings

18 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Culum Brown's work on fish cognition has proven fish have long memories, sharks have friends, and sting rays know when it's the weekend

Miranda Tapsell — Kakadu, Cannes and love stories that matter

15 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Miranda's story from growing up in Kakadu National Park as a Larrakia Tiwi girl, to finding fame in The Sapphires, and co-creating Top End Wedding, t...

Moomins, motherhood and me — Sheila Heti

14 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sheila Heti on the life of Finnish writer Tove Jansson who created the Moomins, and some of her own reflections on her choice about whether or not to...

Helen Garner — from Moonee Ponds to Paris

13 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Helen recently published her diaries from the years 1978 to 1987. They include her thoughts on writing and work, parenting, love affairs, and the que...

A true Lord of the Flies story and what we got wrong about human nature

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rutger Bregman takes a new look at the accepted idea that humans are just one disaster away from bad behaviour. He says our species' survival has lon...

Hayley Katzen's unexpected life as a farmer's wife

11 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When Hayley moved to a cattle property to live with her farmer girlfriend, the rural idyll wasn't quite as she imagined

Marian Keyes on growing up

08 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A new conversation with the Irish novelist, on what it means to be a grown up, and standing her ground on Ireland’s moral questions

Adrian Mole and the Shropshire postman

07 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Young Robert Lukins modelled himself on the fictional character Adrian Mole, a prodigious reader and writer (R)

Sandy Mackinnon's fantastic voyage through the canals of Europe

06 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sandy was teaching at a school in the English countryside when he set off in a Mirror dinghy, intending to sail as far as Gloucester (R)

William Dalrymple on the ruthless rise of the British East India Company

05 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How a group of financiers from a poor and damp island on the outer rim of Europe created a private company which came to rule India (R)