Podcast
Conversations
Hosted by ABC Australia · EN
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.
256episodes
Episodes
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Changing prisoners' minds with Vedic meditation at Rikers Island
May 2600:53:18Tap to summarizeJoh 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 way of coping.Joh grew up in Adelaide, and always wanted to live amidst the bright lights of New York.After a stint as a bicycle courier, she worked her way up to management at the ABC.As she approached 50, she had a well-paying job, a nice house, and strong connections with friends and family. But long-term grief had hollowed her out, and she asked herself, is this all there is?Then she was introduced to Vedic meditation, and she says her first encounter was 'psychedelic'.Read more about Joh's work at Rikers Island and other US prisons at her website The Light Inside.And you can see Joh in action on ABC TV's Compass.This episode of Conversations was produced by Alice Moldovan. Executive Producer was Nicola Harrison.It explores epic life stories, family dynamics, grief, loss, reflection, Vedic meditation, meditation, personal stories, origin stories, death, career, giving back, New York City, Rikers Island prison, incarceration, justice system, prison system, mindfulness, mantras, health and wellness, suicide.
Transcribe →Patrick Radden Keefe digs into the mysterious death of a man posing as a Russian oligarch's son
May 2500:52:29Tap to summarizeStaff 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 balcony of a luxury apartment. That young man's name was Zac Brettler. He was 19 years old, and hours later his body was discovered on the banks of the River Thames. Patrick Radden Keefe’s investigation explores Zac’s secret life posing as the son of a Russian oligarch, and delves into the true identities of the wealthy gangsters who were there in his final hours.Further informationLondon Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City, and a Family's Search for Truth is published by Pan Macmillan Australia.This episode covers grief, fantasy life, con artists, London underworld, Boris Johnson, family tragedy, luxury, Holocaust survivors, rabbi, Mill Hill school, young men, making money, raising boys, Roman Abramovich, oligarch, plutocrat, MI6 and true crime.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.
Transcribe →Special Collection: Alain de Botton on the true hardwork of love and relationships
May 2200:47:00Tap to summarizeThe 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 Ransom-Hughes and the Executive Producer was Pam O'Brien.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.
Transcribe →Special Collection: Transforming trauma with Gabor Mate
May 2100:47:00Tap to summarizeThe 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 work and marriage and wondered if they were linked to that early trauma.He uses his own experiences as a test case for the effects of trauma on the body and the body-mind connection. Dr Mate is internationally renowned for his ideas around the lifelong impact of trauma.He believes it is contributing factor to rates of addiction, chronic disease, and mental illness, as well as ADHD.His views are sometimes described as unorthodox by his critics, but Dr Mate argues that understanding trauma of all kinds allows for real healing, as has happened in his own life.Further InformationThe Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Dr Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté is published by Penguin Random House.This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2025.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.
Transcribe →Special Collection: How I made peace with my mother and our complicated relationship
May 2000:48:00Tap to summarizeDiana 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 trip to her motherland helped heal this mother-daughter relationship, and after years of walking out of her performances in protest, Diana finally saw her mum from the stage as she took her bow.
Transcribe →Special Collection: An unexpected later in life love story
May 1900:50:00Tap to summarizeAt 48, Bill Hayes moved to New York. He took up photography, and never anticipated the surprise of falling in love with his neighbour, Dr Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, a naturalist and a university professor. (R)Doctor Oliver Sacks became famous for writing case histories of his patients in books, including The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, and An Anthropologist on Mars.At 75 years old, Oliver had never been in a relationship, until he fell deeply in love with his neighbour Bill Hayes, who was decades younger than him.Bill and Oliver lived together until Oliver Sacks died in 2015, in his early eighties.Further informationBill's memoir Insomniac City was published in 2017 by Bloomsbury.This conversation was recorded at the 2017 Sydney Writers' Festival.The producer was Nicola Harrison and the Executive Producer was Pam O'Brien.
Transcribe →Special Collection: The teenage TV star who feels 'lucky to be paraplegic'
May 1800:52:00Tap to summarizeLouise Philip had just scored her breakout role on Australian television, in Bellbird, when a horrific car crash threatened to derail the life she was forging for herself. (R)Louise was 15 years old when she convinced her parents to let her drop out of high school to become an actress.She had just scored her breakout role on Australian television, but within a few months a terrible car crash threatened to derail the life that she was forging for herself. Louise broke her back and permanently lost the use of her legs, and she was told that the silver screen was no longer a place for her.But Louise fought to get back to work, and thrived on Australian television sets for years until she did something else that people told her was impossible -- she became a mother.Only after Louise became a mother did she have the perspective to deeply talk to her father, who was driving the car when it crashed all those years ago, about grief, guilt and forgiveness.This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2024.The producer was Nicola Harrison and the executive producer was Carmel Rooney.It explores disability, tv acting, Australian television, disability access, discrimination, grief, guilt, motherhood, family, love, tragedy, resilience, forgiveness.
Transcribe →Lindy Lee on how Zen Buddhism changed her life and art
May 1500:52:00Tap to summarizeAs a little girl growing up in Brisbane in the era of the White Australia policy, Lindy lived through the pain of always feeling different but then she began using it as fuel for her art. (R)It took her many years to find the power in what she calls the 'tearing' in her identity.She began to make work based on her own family story, and her Zen practice.Lindy is now one of Australia's leading contemporary artists.This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2022
Transcribe →Encore: My parents died in a plane crash and what came next
May 1400:51:00Tap to summarizeAt 25, Peter Goers lost both of his parents after the commercial plane they were travelling in crashed into a suburb of New Orleans shortly after take off.Suddenly, he was required to drop everything to fly to America and identify their bodies, he also spent time the relatives of the other 143 passengers that died in the tragedy.For many years Peter's reaction to losing his parents was expressed through a reckless regard for his own life, before finally learning how to live with himself and the defining tragedy of his life.Peter Goers is a retired ABC broadcaster, he presented The Evening Show on 891 ABC Adelaide for over 20 years.This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2023.It was produced by Nicola Harrison and Eliza Kirch is the Executive Producer.Further InformationPeter's memoir, In the Air of the Afternoon is published through Wakefield Press.
Transcribe →The secret obsession of a Supreme Court Justice
May 1300:53:42Tap to summarizeFor 45 years, George Palmer harboured a secret. He spent every spare moment composing classical music, and then shoving his scores in his bottom drawer. Until one day, almost by pure chance, that music saw the light of day.As a young man, George had dreams of becoming a renowned classical music composer, but when he walked into university, he didn't feel like he belonged in the music department.George left after his first week, and followed a school friend into the law department.At first, George was not inspired by the law, but he ended up falling in love with the human side of the justice system.For the next 45 years, he climbed the ranks from barrister, to Queen's Counsel, and finally to judge in the NSW Supreme Court, where he had ultimate responsibility for all adoptions in the state.But through all those years in public life, George had a secret "vice".Every spare moment he had was spent at his piano, scribbling down choral works and orchestral scores that he never intended anyone to see or hear.He never spoke about composing with his colleagues, friends or family, until one day George's talents were uncovered through chance and tragedy.George's latest work The Drover's Wife - The Opera is playing at Brisbane's QPAC until 22 May, and then will be staged at Sydney's Opera House in August, 2026.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Eliza Kirsch.It explores World War Two, family origin stories, spies, British intelligence, hearing loss, late in life career changes, second career, protective list, adoption, foster care, Supreme Court, legal system, justice system, judicial system, commercial law, Beethoven, Bach, Wagner, opera, contemporary classical music, contemporary Australian composers, Indigenous stories, Leah Purcell, stage adaptations, books, writing.
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