Conversations

Falling for a fake - the journalist and the romantic manipulator

04 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Stephanie Wood was an acclaimed newspaper journalist when she fell for a romantic fraudsterStephanie Wood was a successful and well-travelled journal...

The seaweed scientist who survived being scalped

03 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After decades as a marine ecologist, Pia Winberg began her own seaweed farm. One ordinary working day there was a terrible accident

Australia's Romani Gypsies

02 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Mandy Sayer has uncovered the history of a thriving Gypsy community (R)

Born blind at the right time: Ron McCallum

01 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Left totally blind by treatment he received as a premature baby, Ron credits technology, love, and good timing with his success in life and the law ...

A dirt bike and a secret: Heather Ellis

28 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When she rode her motorbike solo across the Silk Road, Heather thought she had nothing to lose. Her HIV positive diagnosis was far more serious in th...

The murderer who wasn't there

27 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Zak Grieve was 19 when he was found guilty of murder, although the judge said he wasn't at the scene of the crime. Steven Schubert tells his story

A shipwrecked French cabin boy and his Australian Aboriginal family

26 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The astounding fate of Narcisse Pelletier, taken in by the people of Night Island after being abandoned on the coast of far north Queensland in 1858

A sizzle in the brain changed Lavinia Codd's life

25 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After a stroke at age 31, Lavinia Codd lost part of her memory, and half her vision. Then she became fascinated by her brain's ability to regenera...

Inside the comic mind

24 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

'Becardiganed polymath' Robin Ince on the fascinating brains of stand-up comics

Stories from Elmswood Farm

21 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Patrice Newell was a model and a TV host before she began again as a biodynamic farmer

Richard Tognetti: 'Je suis Wollongong'

20 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Tognetti was a boy when he first showed a brilliant talent for playing the violin. But in the town where he grew up, his talent made him a ta...

Rozsy's terrible secret

19 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Angela Hamilton was raised by a tyrannical father, who terrorised his family. Decades later, she found out the truth about what he'd done during WWII...

The evolution of Poh

18 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How a shy Mormon girl named Sharon became Poh Ling Yeow (R)

State secrets and marsupials

17 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Australia through the eyes of The New York Times Australia bureau chief, Damien Cave

Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst

14 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Chasing the back beat and adventures in wide open spaces, Rob remains essentially the same as the boy he was (R)

Not your average dentist

13 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After treating a patient named Anna, Sharonne Zaks saw the power relationship with her patients differently. She developed a new branch of dentistry ...

Water, Water: a story collection

12 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Eight stories exploring the pleasures and perils of water

Barrie Cassidy and Private Bill

11 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Barrie unearths a family wartime secret after fifty years (R)

The rise of the land dragon

10 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Landragin was born into a champagne-making family in the French village of Verzenay. When he was five, his family began a new life in Australia....

Finding the erotic in everyday life with Esther Perel

07 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Esther is a therapist who spent years studying intimacy, monogamy and sexuality. She became the world's most well-known expert on modern loveWhen Est...

A mother I never knew — the secret of Peter Papathanasiou

06 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The story of family bonds so strong that one couple gave their child to another, to be raised in a country far away

Liz Jones and the fire at La Mama

05 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The matriarch of La Mama on life in and out of Melbourne’s beloved theatre

The 'Angel of Death' of Sydney's underworld

04 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dulcie Markham was one of the most notorious characters of Sydney in the 1930s, but many of her lovers met a grisly end

The memory whisperer

03 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Lynne Kelly became a senior memory champion after she began researching ancient ways of transforming landscapes, objects and the human body into 'mem...

Operation Babylift

31 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the dying days of the Vietnam War, hundreds of orphans were airlifted from Saigon to safety. Ian Shaw tells the story of two Australian women at t...

Psychotherapy on the couch

30 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Demystifying the art of talk therapy and the complex relationship between therapist and patientPsychotherapy, also known as 'the talking cure', is ba...

Behind the sequins: the Tony Sheldon story

29 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Tony became an actor against his mother's wishes. Three decades later, he won the part of a lifetime (R)

Helen Zaltzman is the Allusionist

28 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Travelling the world in pursuit of language and exploring its uses, abuses and transformation

The iron law of newspapers

27 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Sally Young unearthed a culture of 'dog does not eat dog' as she wrote a history of Australia's newspaper barons

Inside the Robbers Cave: testing tribal loyalties at a boys summer camp

24 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Gina Perry uncovers the strange story behind a controversial psychological experiment (R)

The great dogs of Australian history

23 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dog whisperer Guy Hull on remarkable dogs, from life-saving kangaroo dogs to plane-flying Alsatians (R)

In and out of strife: Vickie Roach's turbulent life

22 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Vickie's met with trouble all through her life, starting with a police record at the age of two. She went on to challenge a Federal law on the rights...

Bob Hawke on a life in power

21 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The late Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke on his life before politics, and his years at The Lodge (R)

How Australian Labor lost 'the unlosable election'

20 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Social Researcher Rebecca Huntley on Australia's new political landscape

Jessie Cole's survival story

17 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After two suicides within her family, Jessie returned to Northern NSW to begin again. (R)

How to change a mind

16 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Eleanor Gordon-Smith was a 'recovering champion debater' when a night in King's Cross upended her belief in the power of reason

Irvine Welsh: the origins of Trainspotting

15 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As a young man, Irvine Welsh fell off a double-decker bus and won a tidy sum in compensation. Then he began to write 'Trainspotting'

The story of The Snowy

14 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Tales of drowned towns, pugnacious unionists, terrifying brumbies and a love story in a laundry floor came to light in Siobhan McHugh's history of th...

Revealing the scars: the life of Kate Mulvany

13 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kate has used tragic events in her own life as creative fuel to write more than 25 plays (R)

When the library burned

10 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Susan Orlean on the enduring mystery of who set fire to the Los Angeles Central Library

The brutal and beautiful world of Australia's native bees

09 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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

How a milkmaid with cowpox changed history

08 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

David Isaacs on the surprising history of human vaccination

This is your captain speaking

07 May 2019

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

Monsters and morals: Sarah Perry

06 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah’s life took a gothic turn as she crafted her version of Melmoth

The power of Less: Andrew Sean Greer

03 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Pulitzer Prize winner was working as an odd-jobs man for an Italian Baroness when a phone call upended his life

How George Saunders became 'a genuinely freaky person'

02 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

George Saunders was a knuckle puller in a slaughterhouse and drove a chicken delivery van before he became a writer

Hunting the turquoise-blooded frog

01 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Biologist Jodi Rowley has identified 26 new species of frogs in South-East Asia and Australia (R)

Taking the pulse of a dopesick nation

30 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The opioid crisis is destroying hundreds of thousands of American lives and Beth Macy has been up close to it

An erratic family saga

29 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Vicki Laveau-Harvie was estranged from her parents for decades, before she was summoned to their isolated ranch on the Canadian prairies (R)

Mary Bryant: no ordinary highwaywoman

26 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The epic life story of a First Fleet rebel as told by Meg Keneally

Questioning the line of duty

25 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why Gwen Cherne became an advocate for war widows after the death of her husband Pete (R)

Listening to China

24 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Professor David Walker on the history of the Australia-China relationship

Stan Grant on Australia Day

23 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Reflections on what it means to be Australian

Vasilisa the Wise and the witch Baba Yaga

22 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Forsyth explores a classic Russian folk tale and delves into the romantic life of the Brothers Grimm (R)

Diving bells, gangsters and the women of the Brooklyn Navy Yards

19 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Acclaimed novelist Jennifer Egan dives into the chaos, romance, and hard graft of the old Navy Yards (R)

Melina Marchetta: that Italian girl

18 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The real story behind Looking for Alibrandi

Mark Scott on stepping outside the echo chamber

17 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Mark led the ABC through a decade of dramatic change. Now he's on a quest for digital minimalism

How the iPhone rewrote the teenage brain

16 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

David Gillespie on how Fortnite and Instagram are altering the neural pathways of a generation

The ethics of everything: Simon Longstaff

15 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Simon Longstaff's life was changed by one of the most searing ethical dilemmas imaginable

Climbing K2, custody and other extreme challenges

12 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Adventurer Adrian Hayes on what he learned while attempting the world’s second tallest summit

Sam Thaiday: how to build a Bronco

11 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

An NRL champion talks candidly about his challenges on the road to football fame

The truth about space junk

10 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman on the unexpected artefacts of the space age

The secret life of the 'Beauty Queen Killer'

09 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Duncan McNab on how Australian-born criminal Christopher Wilder became America's most wanted

A mountaineer's reckoning

08 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Mountaineer Neill Johanson was trekking near Everest Base Camp when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the roof of the world

Fearless Alice Anderson and her all-girl garage

05 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The story of an Austin-driving Australian maverick who died in mysterious circumstances

Mamma Simba: love and Tanzania

04 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Donna Duggan fell in love with a Tanzanian man and together they built a safari company

Unlocking the mystery of Motor Neurone Disease

03 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dominic Rowe is asking how common degenerative brain diseases begin (R)

Finding Mer-Neith-it-es

02 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When archaeologist Dr Jamie Fraser opened an 'empty' Egyptian sarcophagus, he found a 2600 year old mummy of a temple Priestess inside

Letters to a serial killer

01 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Crime writer Candice Fox began exchanging letters with a serial killer on death row. Then he asked to meet her in person

Prisoner to PhD: the rise of Kerry Tucker

29 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

An opportunity to further her education while serving time proved the making of Kerry (R)

Felafel and fatherhood

28 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

John Birmingham on rebuilding his life after devastating loss, years after he wrote his 90s cult novel

More than kindness: compassion and its uses

27 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Gilbert on how our brains are wired for inner conflict and possible cruelty, and what to do about it

Anton Enus, son of the Masked Marvel

26 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist Anton Enus grew up as the son of a professional wrestler, in apartheid-era South Africa

Death on the summit of Mount Kosciuszko

25 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Nick Brodie on how a 1928 adventure on the slopes of Australia's highest mountain went horribly wrong

Disrupting forensic science and playing with fire

22 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Chemist and fire scene investigator Niamh Nic Daeid on doing science in the service of justice

Cradle Mountain's great love story

21 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Legge traces the lives of pioneering naturalists Kate Cowle and Gustav Weindorfer in Tasmania's sublime wilderness

Women of the American heartland

20 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Smarsh on the idiosyncratic women who raised her in Kansas

Dr Budgerigar

19 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Bob Doneley is one of the only Australian vets specialising in the health of budgerigars (R)

Going back to Baghdad

18 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Doctor Munjed Al Muderis on returning to Iraq to operate on soldiers and civilians wounded in the war against ISIS

Undercover in the asylum

15 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Thousands of citizens were housed in Melbourne's asylums during the 19th Century, and they received surprisingly humane treatment

Meryl Tankard: dancing beyond ballet

14 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How a former ballerina revolutionised Australia’s dance landscape

The adventures of Captain Patch

13 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How Travis Saunders and his son Patch are helping rewrite the story of autism.

The evolution of Courtney Act

12 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

At five, Shane Jenek won his first talent quest. Sixteen years later he became Courtney Act, one of the world's most recognisable drag queens

Kuranda's compass

11 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When Kuranda Seyit was thrust into the public eye after 9/11, he unearthed a history which had to be told

How Australia's first female detective took on Sydney's razor gangs

08 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Leigh Straw tells the story of Lillian Armfield, arch enemy of serial criminals Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh et al (R)

Changing how we talk about rape

07 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Sohaila Abdulali was seventeen when she was gang raped and forced to fight for her life

John Prine: from Paradise to Nashville

06 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A songwriter's songwriter, John has turned his often bemused view of people and politics into songs for fifty years

Chair's tenacious daughter

05 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Caro Llewellyn was in her 40s when she got a distressing diagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis

The future of cyber war

04 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist David Sanger on how the internet became 'the perfect weapon'

Basketball and belonging: Cheryl Kickett-Tucker

01 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Cheryl is a Wadjuk traditional owner, playing the long game in her Swan Valley community

Abu Dhabi's temporary people

28 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What is it like when home is a country that doesn't want you? Deepak Unnikrishnan's family story

Hello Carly Findlay

27 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Carly was born with facial difference, and says the rudeness of strangers has sometimes been more painful than the disability she's grown to embrace

Digging with his pen

26 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Irishman John Connell was an acclaimed journalist when his life began to unravel

The guiding light

25 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When Dorothy Hoddinott became Principal of Holroyd High School, she began a wave of change for her students

Joan and the bone men

22 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The rewards and challenges of working in orthopaedics

How Brolga Barns became a 'Kangaroo Mum'

21 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Barns always knew he wanted to work with animals. Then he began his own sanctuary for orphaned baby kangaroos (R)

From the Shetlands to Vera: crime writer Ann Cleeves

20 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Award-winning novelist Ann Cleeves lived many lives before her career as an author took off (R)

Joan Jett's life in music

19 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When Joan Marie Larkin was given a guitar at the age of 13, she was on the path to becoming the Godmother of Punk

The marvellous Miss Matters

18 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Clare Wright on the true story of how Adelaide's Muriel Matters began to change the world

Charles Kingsford Smith: king of the Milky Way

15 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The life of 'Smithy' Australia's greatest aviator