Conversations

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 big family in country Queensland, where his dad Tom ran pubs for a living. He had six older siblings, who had come to the family as foster kids before he was born.It was a happy, knockabout, sports-obsessed childhood. But in the midst of all the love and warmth, Lech's mum Lenore lived with a creeping sense of dread.She knew that one day, the troubled biological parents of three of the children in the family would appear in their lives.Michael and Mary Shelley were Christian fanatics wandering from place to place, in and out of jail and psychiatric hospitals, and notorious for stalking politicians and judges.One evening, when Lenore was at home with some of the children, Mary Shelley knocked on her door, changing the family's life forever.This episode of Conversations explores family, origin stories, adoption, foster care, religion, Christianity, mental health, mental illness, family dynamics, parenting.Further informationAustralian Gospel is published by Black Inc.Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day on 13 11 14.This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and presented by Sarah Kanowski.It explores family dynamics, origin stories, adoption, foster care, religion, Christianity, mental health, mental illness, parenting, blended families, biological children, adoption, Australia, books, writing, journalism, memoir.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

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 big family in country Queensland, where his dad Tom ran pubs for a living. He had six older siblings, who had come to the family as foster kids before he was born.It was a happy, knockabout, sports-obsessed childhood. But in the midst of all the love and warmth, Lech's mum Lenore lived with a creeping sense of dread.She knew that one day, the troubled biological parents of three of the children in the family would appear in their lives.Michael and Mary Shelley were Christian fanatics wandering from place to place, in and out of jail and psychiatric hospitals, and notorious for stalking politicians and judges.One evening, when Lenore was at home with some of the children, Mary Shelley knocked on her door, changing the family's life forever.This episode of Conversations explores family, origin stories, adoption, foster care, religion, Christianity, mental health, mental illness, family dynamics, parenting.Further informationAustralian Gospel is published by Black Inc.Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day on 13 11 14.This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and presented by Sarah Kanowski.It explores family dynamics, origin stories, adoption, foster care, religion, Christianity, mental health, mental illness, parenting, blended families, biological children, adoption, Australia, books, writing, journalism, memoir.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

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 whammy of perimenopause, her husband's alcoholism and distance from family and friends.For the first time in her life, Kate had an empty house, no job commitments and no city life to distract her.She was able to indulge daily in her love of boogie boarding and surf-side walks with her dog, Maggie.One day at the beach, Kate saw her elderly father struggling in the surf.Kate's husband Chris was in the water next to him, but was acting strangely and couldn't manage to haul him out of the dangerous water.That evening, Chris confessed his alcoholism to Kate and the couple faced the inevitable decisions they would have to navigate, together and apart.Further informationBoogie Wonderland is published by Affirm Press.This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan.Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.This episode of Conversations deals with good divorce, Melbourne covid lockdowns, seachange, addiction, alcoholism, supporting an alcoholic, women in media, perimenopause, midlife, being alone, boogie boarding and relationships.

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 over an ableist slur in their song lyrics.When Hannah was growing up, the only people she saw on TV who used a wheelchair like her were Paralympians or in Road Safety ads.Hannah spent a lot of her childhood feeling lonely and left out, though she was sure she wanted to be a writer when she grew up.She was still at pre-school when she realised that names on the front of books belonged to the people who had written them.It was also around this time when Hannah became aware that her body didn't work in the same way as her friends at childcare.Hannah has since started the Krazy Kosci Klimb, which supports young people with Cerebral Palsy to climb Australia's highest peak.Hannah always knew representation was important for young, disabled people like her to be reflected in pop culture and to belong.So she wrote to Disney, requesting they create their first princess who uses a wheelchair.That petition secured Hannah's first job in journalism with Mamamia — at the age of 15.She has since made history, becoming the first person with a disability to film a sex scene for Australian television.in 2022, Hannah went unexpectedly viral for confronting musician Lizzo about an ableist slur in her song lyrics.Several weeks later, Beyonce used the same slur, and Hannah realised she had to take on the biggest pop star in the world.Further informationHannah's collection of autobiographical essays, I'll Let Myself In is published by Allen & Unwin.This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan.Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

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 grew up under the thumb of his charismatic, pious mother.He went to a school with links to the controversial, secretive and conservative Catholic organisation, Opus Dei.There, he desperately tried to hide his sexuality, and was ruthlessly bullied for his musical and stage talents.Despite Tim's success in Australian opera, television, and in Hollywood blockbusters, he continued to harbour many secrets about himself and his family.One day his mother, who loved Tim deeply in her own way, and who was dying from ovarian cancer, convinced her only son to come with her to therapy. Instead of finally being able to talk about his struggles, Tim found himself being tricked into gay conversion therapy.For the last few months of his mother's life, he went to be hypnotised by a 'Catholic psychologist' every week, until eventually she died, and Tim was set free to learn how live by and for himself.Further informationThe Truth Will Set You Free: Growing up gay in Opus Dei is published by Hachette.You can stream the Four Corners report into schools with ties to Opus Dei, which features Tim, on ABC iview.The Pared Foundation's full responses to questions from Four Corners can be read here.Opus Dei Australia provided Four Corners with this statement.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris and presented by Richard Fidler. The executive producer is Nicola Harrison.This episode explores sexuality, LGBTQI+, homophobia, family dynamics, books, writing, mother-son relationships, shame, the Church, infidelity, cancer, death, grief, losing a mother, acting, a career in acting, memoir, epic life story, origin story, Marvel, Wolverine, Cyclopse, Dance Academy, Tangara, Redfield.

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 American novelist and the owner of an independent bookstore in Nashville.Ann has had three fathers — Frank, Mike and Darrell, who have each provided her with material or motivation for her writing.In 1974 Frank signed up for a subscription to the “100 Greatest Books of All Time” from the Franklin Library, every page complete with gilded edges, and a sewn-in satin-ribbon bookmark.Once all three fathers had died, Ann could finally see what they had given her throughout her life — strength, adoration and acceptance.In her new book, Ann weaves the stories of her fathers into a book of essays about going a year without shopping and becoming dear friends with Tom Hanks' assistant.Further informationThese Precious Days is published by Bloomsbury.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.This episode of Conversations explores fatherhood, fathers and daughters, male role models, writing, Tennessee, growing up, origin stories, personal stories, parenting, life story, family dynamics, America, United States, grief, death, loss of a parent, writing, books, bookstores.

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 collection of Iranian Arabs, wanted independence for their province of Iran, but their demands were impossible for the British Government to meet, and so the then-little known Special Air Service (SAS) were told to plan an invasion of the building to rescue the hostages.They had taken 26 people hostage, including staff, visitors and a police officer named Trevor who was guarding the building at the time of the attack.What followed was a six-day siege, that was eventually broken by the SAS.Their storming of the embassy galvanised the world, as people watched it all unfold on live television.Historian and author Ben McIntyre takes a deeper look at this dramatic siege and rescue operation, uncovering the real, powerful story of ordinary people responding as best they could to lethal jeopardy.Further informationThe Siege is published by Penguin Random House.This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Sydney Writers' Festival.It explores Iran, Tehran, terrorism, violence, threats, diplomacy, rescue missions, epic history, western democracy, dictatorship, foreign affairs, global politics, east vs west, occupation, war, civil war, BBC, journalism, live television, media ethics, Afrouz, MI5, Hyde Park, surveillance, Stockholm Syndrome, Mustapha Karkouti, Syria, Operation Nimrod, Jassim Alwan al-Nasiri, Abbas Lavasani, murder, execution, Saddam Hussein, Iraq, Iran-Iraq War, the Middle East, history books, writing.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

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 for that period?In 1966, the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong went to war against his own government.What followed was ten years of murderous violence and utter insanity, until Mao's death in 1976.Children were urged to denounce their parents, teachers were beaten to death in front of howling mobs, youths were 're-educated', the economy was ruined, and so much of the precious cultural heritage of a great, ancient society went up in smoke.The 'Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution' left such deep scars on China, that subsequent leaders have tried to bury its memory.But, still some young Chinese people — 'Neo-Moaists' — have a sense of nostalgia for the violent revolution they didn't even live through.In order to understand what's going on in China today, you need to know what happened in those strange and terrifying years, and how it affected President Xi Zinping, who had a front row seat to the terror.Further informationBombard the Headquarters is published by Black Inc.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.This episode of Conversations explores political violence, revolution, propaganda, China, Asia, totalitarianism, Farewell my Concubine, Asia Pacific, Lenin, Marxism, Socialism, civil war, the long march, neo-Maoist movement, great leap forward, political upheaval, class warfare, status quo, drain the swamp, mass murder, infanticide, conspiracy theories, Tiananmen Square, red guards, coup, dictatorship, nostalgia.

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 brainwashing happened gradually, first came the love-bombing and the allure of finding a new purpose in life. Then came the isolation from friends and family, along with sleep deprivation, overwork and sexual manipulation.Liz was one of the many women chosen to become a kind of bride for the leader of an infamous Korean religious group.It wasn't until she became critically ill, that her family were able to get the help she needed to escape and to begin the process of being deprogrammed.Liz Cameron's memoir is called Cult Bride: How I was brainwashed and how I broke free.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Jennifer Leake.This episode of Conversations touches on cults, brainwashing, religious groups, eating disorders, sexual manipulation, deprogramming, sexual assault, sleep deprivation, family, recovery, healing, trauma, biography, psychology, Providence, JMS, Jesus Morning Star, Pastor Joshua, Jung Myung-seok.

When Kerstin Pilz discovered that her charming husband Gianni had been cheating on her while he was dying, she had to decide what to do next (R)She had fallen madly in love with this Italian man when she was in her 40s.The two married and began travelling the world together.Then Gianni suddenly fell ill.As he was in the hospital undergoing surgery for life-threatening cancer, Kerstin discovered her husband was not the man she thought he was.Further informationLoving my Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband is published by Affirm Press.Originally broadcast in June 2024.This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and presented by Sarah Kanowski.It explores narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, infidelity, terminal cancer, caring for your spouse, marriage breakdown, illness, betrayal, grief, writing, origin stories, love, lust, trust, couples counselling, couples therapy. cheating, dying, grief.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

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 become a master builder before his life became unrecognisable to him.Several years ago, Melbourne author and book editor, Katia was invited to write Ephraim's biography.Katia was already familiar with his name.She had seen the way mourners uttered his name and felt a sense of calm and ease within their sorrow, because they trusted Ephraim as a master of death who would know how to lead them through the world of mourning.Ephraim started life as Geoffrey William Finch, the son of a butcher in the working class suburb of Ashfield in Sydney in the 1940s. He learned his love of reading from his pop, who would come home from his job at the abattoir and read Oscar Wilde's work over a cigar on the porch. From a young age Ephraim felt an ineffable pull toward monotheism and converted to Judaism, along with his wife, Cas, after the pair met as teenagers at the Wagga Wagga Royal Show.Eventually he was drawn to his vocation — the sacred and quiet ritual of preparing bodies for burial. And he became the go-to man in Melbourne, where over his career he has buried more than 10,000 people.Further informationFerryman: The life and deathwork of Ephraim Finch is published by Wild Dingo Press.Katia's first book, a memoir is called The Swift Dark Tide, published by Gazebo Books.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan.This episode of Conversations touches on death, grief, mourning, burial, Judaism, Jewish, chevra kadisha, Ephraim Finch, Melbourne, Orthodox Judaism, conversion, Jewish conversion, Wagga Wagga, Herman Wouk, deathwork, funerals, epic life stories, origin stories, loss, reflection and biography.

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, pain is a fundamental part of being alive, and staying alive and yet none of us will ever experience the exact same pain as someone else, which makes it incredibly difficult to understand.Every day, we stub our toes and burn our tongues. Some of us break bones and suffer from more serious illnesses and conditions.What you feel when your skin is broken or a ligament is torn is there to tell your brain to be careful, that something is wrong and needs to be protected.But what happens when doctors can't find any damage? When the tissues in your hips or the pictures of your brain seem perfectly fine, but still, there is agonising pain that refuses to leave you alone?Lorimer was a physiotherapist who came to this very specific neuroscience after his own experience with chronic pain, following a pretty gruesome sporting injury that by all accounts had been fixed by surgery.He realised that as he was learning more about how changes in the body are detected (like temperature and pressure), and communicated as pain to the brain through the central nervous system, his own chronic pain started to diminish.Since then, Lorimer has published hundreds of papers and several books on the topic, in his pursuit to help people also dig themselves out of the hellish cruelty of chronic pain.Further informationYou can find more resources from Professor Moseley about tackling persistent or chronic pain online at TameTheBeast.orgFind out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.The Executive Producer of Conversations in Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris and presented by Richard Fidler. It explores persistent pain, migraine, arthritis, neurology, psychology, distrust of the medical system, pain relief, hypersensitivity to pain, doctors who believe you, chronic conditions, endometriosis.

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 and two colleagues were arrested while working for Al Jazeera in Cairo, they were charged with spreading false news and aiding terrorism.  Peter then was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in jail.Back home, Peter's parents Juris and Lois became the face of the campaign to free him and his two brothers were a constant presence in Cairo throughout the ordeal.But after the initial exhilaration of freedom Peter had to work out how to live a different kind of life.  One far away from the adrenaline of his years reporting from some of the world's most volatile places.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.This episode of Conversations deals with reporting from war zones, prison, solitary confinement, grief, death, press freedom, family, psychological distress, political unrest, post traumatic stress, prison life, captivity.

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 several highly acclaimed novels.His most recent book is a sweeping portrait of modern-day London, a city ‘levitating on a sea of dirty Russian money'. The main character, Campbell Flynn, is much like Andrew himself: a public intellectual who escaped from the Scottish council estate he grew up in and came to London to enjoy great success.But success, a big house, a loving family and expensive habits are not enough.Campbell is a man riding for a fall, and there will be many spectators at the final hurrah, when his life comes tumbling down. Further informationFirst Broadcast May 2024, and recorded at the Melbourne Writers' Festival.Caledonian Road is published by Allen & Unwin.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

The Gen X actor on making peace with her absent father, the ghosts of her Hollywood past and nursing Anthony Keidis through his drug addiction while she was still a teenager — a relationship she shudders at today.The 1990s It girl was named for the Scottish island where she was conceived, before her enigmatic folk singer father, Donovan abandoned the family before she was born.A string of stepfathers couldn't remedy Ione's fundamental abandonment and she grew up surrounded by creative types who flowed freely through her mother's house in Los Angeles.Following her beloved older brother into the world of acting and modelling, Ione had an early start in Hollywood and it led her to a full, messy life in which she starred alongside the likes of River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves and John Cusack.When she was only a teenager, she began a relationship with Anthony Keidis, the lead singer of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who was addicted to heroin. This dysfunctional relationship led to Ione's marriage to the first great love of her life, Adam Horovitz of The Beastie Boys, and a period of time she describes as her 90s daydream.This happy period devolved as Ione joyfully and remorsefully explored her bisexuality and the infidelity eventually ended the marriage.Today Ione is happily married to Australian musician, Ben Lee and has two daughters.Further informationSay Everything is published by HarperCollins.Find out more about Ione Skye and Ben Lee's creative project, Weirder Together.Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.This episode of Conversations deals with absent fathers, epic life stories, personal stories, cheating, divorce, relationship breakdowns, inappropriate relationships, age gap relationships, intimacy, therapy, Hollywood, Ad-Rock, partying, substance abuse, modelling, child actors and acting.

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 world power.The balance of global power has changed dramatically over the last 25 years.Even in the last five years, so much has happened - the pandemic, AUKUS, the war in Ukraine, a change of government here in Australia, Donald Trump's return to the White House, and all the tumult that has followed over the past six months.According to defence analyst Hugh White, we are quickly heading into a post-American world.However, Australia's defence assumptions remain based on a world which America built for us, where the United States is still a predominant world power that is heavily invested in Asia, and in us.Hugh says political leaders in Australia are in denial about all of this, and need to get their heads out of the sand, accept the the world as we knew it is passing away, and redefine our relationships with powerful nations including the United States and China in order to make our way in this new world.We've done it before, with the United Kingdom in the post-World War II years, and we need to do it again, Hugh says.Further informationYou can read Hugh White's essay, Hard New World: Our Post-American Future, in the June issue of the Quarterly Essay.If you're interested in more episodes like this one, have a listen to Richard's recent conversation with Marcel Dirsus about tyrants and dictators on the ABC Listen App, or wherever you get your podcasts.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Jennifer Leake and presented by Richard Fidler.This episode of Conversations explores nuclear war, Russian expansionism, Ukraine, Putin, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Los Angeles protests, riots, political landscape, Lauren Tomasi, ANZUS, Asia-Pacific, Xi Jinping, Taiwan, invasion, California, the decline of the West, National Guard, law enforcement, ICE.

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 barbecued duck in Singapore changed his life, though nothing would prepare him for two monumental floods in his adopted region of Lismore, NSW.Graeme was only a boy when he was introduced to the power and ferocity of fire. As a nine-year-old living in Albany, Western Australia he lit a fire out of curiosity on a neighbour's property. It was the look on his mother's face that turned his experience from awesome into terrifying.Graham grew up with the flavours of his grandparents' German and Polish ancestry, raised by a single mum, and experienced social isolation brought on by the judgement of kids at school.  After the barbecued duck experience, his whole world became focused on food, and he eventually opened his own restaurant in Lismore, NSW.Graeme survived two major floods, and in the aftermath, cooked on his barbecue non-stop for weeks, outside his ruined restaurant, feeding his community with help from volunteers.Further informationRead more about Graeme's restaurant in Lismore, The Stockpot Kitchen.Graeme's cookbook, Red Hot & Smokin'! was published by New Holland Publishers in 2019.Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.This episode of Conversations deals with mental health, fire, barbecue, murder, epic life stories, origin stories, sauerkraut, Singapore barbecued duck, the Albany Snake Run, cooking, restaurants, feeding, single mum, aged care, aged care mistreatment, Lismore floods, adventure, vocation.

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.They found there were no Indian grocery stores, few spices of any kind, and plain yoghurt wasn't available.But the Kulkarnis adapted to their new home, teaching their neighbours how to cook Indian food, and encouraging Jayashri's love for studying.Jayashri became a doctor, and during her training as a psychiatrist she became fascinated by the relationship between women's hormones and mental health.She's since been at the frontline of groundbreaking research, which challenged many of her colleagues and ended up helping women all over the world.Further informationFirst broadcast in February 2024.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Tamar Cranswick and presented by Sarah Kanowski.It explores female health, medical research, menopause, perimenopause, hormonal health, female medical research, migration, studying medicine, depression, anxiety, gut health, why don't doctors listen to women, gender stereotypes, underrepresentation in medical research, gaslighting in women's health, women's pain, motherhood, stress, psychiatry, reproductive health, hormonal birth control.

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-Australian journalist was held in detention in China for more than three years, accused of selling state secrets to foreign people and powers.In episode one of this two-part series, Lei explained how the charges hinged on a document that was read out publicly on television, and how she survived the cruelty of interrogations and being kept in isolation.In this episode, Lei's details how her experience of detention changed as she moved out of solitary confinement, but still under lock and key with three other women.In cell 112, Lei and the other women sang songs when the guards weren't watching, they fought, they bonded and they communicated secretly with the prisoners in a cell next door.The knocking, for which Lei was punished, climaxed in a covert proposal.Eventually, Lei saw sunlight again. With the help of the Australian Government, she was released and flown back home to Melbourne, where she was reunited with her children (now teenagers), rebuilt her life and can be publicly critical of the paranoid and image-conscious state security system that locked her behind bars for years.Further informationListen to the first part of Richard's extraordinary conversation with Cheng Lei here.Cheng Lei: A Memoir of Freedom is published by HarperCollins.Cheng Lei: My Story is a documentary made by Sky News Australia. It is available to stream at SkyNews.com.au.Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.This episode of Conversations explores CCP, Covid, propaganda, communism, paranoia, Marise Payne, Scott Morrison, family separation, career changes, jail, justice system, Chinese Communist Party, embassy, diplomatic relations, CCTV, state broadcaster, media, television, news anchor, single mothers, trade, tariffs, books, writing, motherhood, parenting, Tiananmen Square, personal stories, origin.

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 of that time spent in isolation.When Cheng Lei moved back to the country of her birth after the dramatic opening up of China to the world, she was a part of something exciting and historic.That all changed after Xi Jinping came to power, and Australia's relations with China deteriorated.In this first episode of a two-part series, Lei explains how eventually, she found herself detained on bogus espionage charges, and held for more than three years in a Chinese detention centre.For the first six months of her detention, Lei was isolated and alone except for the rotating female guards who stood over her 24 hours a day.Lei was not allowed to speak to these guards, she was forced to sit on the edge of her bed for 14 hours a day, she had to ask permission to do anything, she was not allowed to close her eyes and intermittently she was taken to a room, tied down in a chair and interrogated about allegedly sharing state secrets with foreigners.Lei learned how to ration books, she practised German vocabulary, wrote scripts in her head and thought of her two children to stay sane under torturous conditions.Further informationCheng Lei: A Memoir of Freedom is published by HarperCollins.Cheng Lei: My Story is a documentary made by Sky News Australia. It is available to stream at SkyNews.com.au.Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.This episode of Conversations explores CCP, Covid, propaganda, communism, paranoia, Marise Payne, Scott Morrison, family separation, career changes, jail, justice system, Chinese Communist Party, embassy, diplomatic relations, CCTV, state broadcaster, media, television, news anchor, single mothers, trade, tariffs, books, writing, motherhood, parenting, Tiananmen Square, personal stories, origin.

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 him. He couldn't work out what had happened to him, and neither could the doctors.CW: This discussion contains sensitive mental health details and mentions suicide.Nathan was driven to attempt suicide, and endured years of misdiagnoses from doctors and medications that didn't work.Nathan didn't have the words to describe the confusion, pain and splitting of self he was experiencing.For years, water was the symbol of his undoing.When Nathan returned home to Australia and his parents' care, his mum gave him a copy of his grandfather's war memoirs.Here, Nathan found a link that showed him the healing qualities and the beauty that were possible in water.Eventually, Nathan found a doctor who could explain his symptoms and finally give them a name — depersonalisation.Further informationIf you need help, you can phone Lifeline on 13 11 14.When Nothing Feels Real is published by Murdoch Books.Read more about dissociative disorders and depersonalisation on the NHS website.Read about dissociative disorders and depersonalisation specifically in relation to young people on the Orygen website.Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan.

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason on what it takes to keep up with her seven children — all of them gifted classical musicians (R).Kadiatu is a former English academic and the mother of seven extraordinary children.All of them are gifted classical musicians.Her eldest daughter, Isata wrote and performed her first piano concerto at the age of eleven.Her son Sheku mastered the cello and performed at the royal wedding of Harry and Megan Markle.Every day the seven Kanneh-Masons, who range from early teens to the mid-twenties, fill the family home with glorious, sometimes chaotic, music.This episode of Conversations explores music education, classical music, accessibility to music, Isata, Braimah, Sheku, Konya, Jeneba, Aminata, Mariatu, piano, violin, cello, orchestra, state school, public education, big families, motherhood, fatherhood, prejudice, mixed race families, music is for everyone, how to learn the violin, gifted children, raising gifted children, gifted and talented.Further informationHouse of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons is published by Oneworld.Kadiatu's newest book, also published by Oneworld, is called To Be Young Gifted And Black.

The Irish novelist has always been open to where life can unexpectedly take him, and the excitement that comes with that kind of freedom.Colm Toibin's first big move was from rural Ireland to Dublin after his father died when he was young. Then, it was off to experience the wild hedonism and sexual liberation of post-Franco Spain, a pleasant shock after needing a prescription to buy condoms in Ireland.Since then, he's journeyed to Sudan, Los Angeles, New York and beyond.Wherever Colm goes, he keeps a running list in his head of tiny details — observations of seemingly mundane encounters, an offhand comment or the cut of a lady's suit on a train.Every now and then, these details bubble up in Colm's memory and another of his well-loved novels, like Brooklyn, Nora Webster or The Master, is born.This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski.It explores film adaptations, death of a parent, grief, Ireland, homophobia, growing up gay, Catholicism, epic adventure, John Crowley, Nick Hornby, Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters, Dublin, immigrant experience, the Irish immigrant experience, family separation, origin stories, falling in love, books, writers, novels, life-story, family dynamics, reflection, loss, funny, comedy, repression, orgies, condom prescriptions, journalism, foreign correspondents.Colm's latest novel Long Island is published by Pan MacMillan.He was in Australia as a guest of the Wheeler Centre, RMIT, Melbourne Writers Festival and Sydney Writers Festival.

When Hilde Hinton was on the cusp of adolescence, her mother died. For years she protected her younger siblings from the truth about their mum.Despite the great grief of her mother's shocking death when Hilde was just 12 years old, there was also a sense of relief for Hilde. She shielded her younger siblings, Samuel and Connie Johnson, from the truth of how and why their mother died.But when Connie also died, decades later of cancer, Hilde was propelled into writing her first novel, in between shifts as a prison officer.Her debut book, The Loudness of Unsaid things, was intensely autobiographical.While Connie never got to read the book, Hilde's brother Samuel finally 'met' their mother through Hilde's writing, and learned all that his big sister had done for them growing up.Now, from her home in Melbourne, where people who need solace freely come and go, Hilde explores in her writing the ordinary things that make life extraordinary.This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Richard Fidler.This episode of Conversations explores mental health, suicide, grieving, grief, death, mothers, single fathers, bipolar, mothers with mental health issues, mental health hospitals, institutionalisation, prisons, writing, books, novels, siblings, Love Your Sister, nuns, Australian Story, childhood cancer.Further informationThe Opposite of Lonely is published by Hachette.You can watch the episode of Australian Story, which features Hilde's brother, Samuel Johnson, online at ABC iview.

When Alex Schnell was around 5 years old, playing in rock pools around Clovelly beach in Sydney, she had an alien encounter. The creature in the shallow water in front of her was a little octopus and unlike anything Alex had seen before, and instead of darting off in fear like a fish might, to Alex it felt like the octopus was genuinely curious in her.Alex has now spent many hours observing them in the ocean, and has discovered extraordinary things about octopus intelligence, personalities, feats of memory, and mating behaviours.The episode of Conversations explores animal intelligence, octopus, giant cuttlefish, scuba diving, animal memory and cognitive skills, South America, prisons in Chile, National Geographic, Nat Geo, Paul Rudd, nature doco, documentary, Disney, how smart are octopus.Further informationYou can stream Dr Alex Schnell's nature documentary, Secrets of the Octopus, at National Geographic Online.

Sean Sweeney on the complications and joys of growing up as a a hearing child in a deaf family, using Auslan, a distinctively Australian sign language.In his twenties, Sean rebelled against the deaf world, and began to look for a new life in the hearing one.But after eighteen years, he returned. He found work as an interpreter at TAFE, and he met his future wife.In 2019, Sean became well known for interpreting from English to Auslan for Australia's Rural Fire Service during Australia's Bushfire Emergency.The episode of Conversations explores family, Auslan, interpreting, bushfire emergency, family, CODA

Marcel Dirsus is fascinated by the treadmill of tyranny: how dictators gain power, how they stay there and how they fall. This is his blueprint for bringing an end to authoritarianism.With democracies seemingly faltering worldwide, political scientist and writer Marcel Dirsus is putting tyrants under the microscope to better understand how they rise and how they fall.Years ago, Marcel took a break from his university studies and travelled to central Africa, where he took a job in a brewery.One day, while walking to work, he heard shots fired and an explosion in the distance as the military was launching a coup.The experience terrified him, and drew him into a study of tyrants — the dictators and despots who make life miserable for so many people on the planet.While they project an image of strength, guarded on all sides, and surrounded by people who do their bidding, Marcel says they live in fear.For the road to power is often flanked by the road to revolution.These men know a mass uprising, an assassination, a mutiny or a foreign invasion could end their reign at any moment, and who, or what will take their place?In investigating the long history of tyrannical leaders, however, Marcel has found a renewed optimism for Western Democracy.How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations Survive is published by Hachette Australia.Marcel is appearing at the Sydney Writers' Festival on Friday 23 May.This episode of Conversations explores Putin, Xi Jinping, China, CCP, Russia, Trump, global politics, dictatorships, democracy, voting rights, election results, the new world order, Stalin, Hitler, famous leaders, Churchill, politics, books, writing, history, war, civil war, Africa, USSR, Elon Musk, Gaddafi, golden gun, torture, Libya, Syria, control, Machiavelli, monarchs, Al-Ghazali, East Germany, Congo, academia, what to study at university, coup, the elite, power systems, Cold War, Bashar al-Assad, Ukraine, surveillance, Roman Empire.

The bestselling Irish author grew up on a farm set on “50 acres on the side of a hill”. Growing up, she witnessed a harsh, misogynistic country that convinced her she would never marry. Claire shares what she has learned about writing from a litter of newborn piglets.Her works Small Things Like These and Foster have both been made into movies.Claire's stories often take place in the landscape where she grew up — the farms and small towns of Wexford in Southeast Ireland.Claire was the youngest of six children, and when she was born their farmhouse had no running water and few books.Instead, Claire fell in love with horses.As a small child she would go to the wood with her brother, who was a lumberjack.Amongst the chainsaws and workmen, little Claire would drive a harnessed horse from behind, to the roadside, to help clear the heavy trees. And as she grew older, she developed a fierce determination to live life on her own terms.This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski.This episode of Conversations touches on marriage, Magdalene laundries, contraception, Ireland, Catholicism, big Irish families, horsemanship, starting brumbies, skewbald Connemara pony, New Orleans, writing, literary prizes, farms, personal stories, epic life stories, family dynamics and modern history.Further informationListen to Sarah's interview with Queensland horseman, Ken Faulkner.

The writer had a complex relationship with his mother, whose professional reputation built a wall between them, but also saved his life more than once while working as a war correspondent.Peter Godwin was born in Zimbabwe when the country was still under colonial rule.His English mother was the only doctor for thousands of kilometres and early on, Peter realised that he came second to her patients.When Peter was little, civil war broke out at home and so he was sent away to boarding school, and then conscripted by the army when he was still a teenager.After his service, Peter became a journalist and while on the ground, his mother's professional reputation saved his life more than once, including the time he was kidnapped while reporting in Somalia.As he grew older, Peter came to see his mother in a new light, and he finally learned the real reason she and his father had emigrated to Africa in the first place.This episode of Conversations explores PTSD, war correspondence, journalism, colonialism, the British Empire, Africa, Civil War, the United Kingdom, mothers and sons, the death of a sibling, grief, occupational hazards, mental health, grief, memoirs, biography, origin story, epic, adventure, conscription, boy soldiers.Exit Wounds is published by Allen&Unwin.

Psychiatrist Warren Ward treats patients who are severely ill with eating disorders. Understanding the mystery of human nature has driven him since he was a young doctor.Warren Ward's patients are often critically ill with diseases like anorexia.Warren says asking someone with anorexia to eat is like asking an arachnophobe to put their hand in a jar full of spiders.As a psychiatrist, Warren uses psychotherapy to help his patients.He encourages those with an eating disorder to approach their mental illness as one part of their whole self.His interest in the mystery of human nature informed his study of philosophy, and led him to examine the love lives of philosophers.Lovers of Philosophy is published by Ockham Publishing.This episode of Conversations explores mental illness, bulimia, orthorexia, anorexia, EDs, Eating disorders, disordered eating, how to help a loved one with an eating disorder, psychology, psychiatry, philosophy, romance, heartbreak, love life, relationships, inpatient treatment, mental health hospitals, feeding clinics.

When writer Hannah Kent first visited Iceland in 2003, she came across a gothic true story about Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman hanged in Iceland. That story would change her life.Hannah's arrival to the Nordic island as an exchange student in 2003 was a difficult one.On her first night in the country, she found herself stranded late at night at Keflavik Airport and desperately homesick.But within weeks, Iceland had begun to change young Hannah — its dramatic landscapes, extraordinary light and chilling ghost stories embedded themselves in Hannah's psyche.She became particularly entranced with the haunting story of accused murderer and domestic servant, Agnes Magnusdottir, who became the last person executed in Iceland. Hannah's later novel, Burial Rites, was inspired by Agnes' story and became a best-seller. But there were many unsolvable mysteries that lingered in her mind years after that book was released.Hannah returned to Iceland to find answers, and discovered her life was still entwined with Agnes in strange and eerie ways.Always Home, Always Homesick is published by Pan Macmillan.This episode of Conversations was recorded live at the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival. It explores writing, books, Rotary Exchange, high school exchange, ERASMUS, Scandinavia, remote travelling, the northern lights, mountains, ghost stories, horrible histories, psychics, speaking with the dead, creepy coincidences, true stories, death penalty, execution, murder, crime.

Claude Robinson developed a heroin habit as a young man, and spent years in jail. In 2006 he began to turn his life around for good. (CW: descriptions of drug use, addiction, and crime) (R)Claude Robinson is the manager of Rainbow Lodge, a home in inner Sydney for men just out of prison. Claude knows the place well because nearly 20 years ago he was sent there himself.Claude was a heroin addict who had taken to crime to pay for his habit and wound up in a minimum security jail. But after he assaulted a prison guard, he ended up in one of Australia's toughest jails - Goulburn Correctional Centre. While Claude was inside, his father died, and he found out that he had inherited $60,000.It was a chance to start a new life when he got out of prison. But instead, he and a girlfriend checked into a hotel in Kings Cross and bought some backs of heroin. Within weeks, all of Claude's inheritance was gone.In 2006, Claude was back in prison when he decided to finally change his story. He got off drugs, went to TAFE, and started working his way back to Rainbow Lodge, where he helps men who have walked a similar path to his own.Help and support is always available: The National Alcohol & Other Drug Hotline is a free and confidential 24/7 phone service that provides counselling, advice, and information for those struggling with addiction. Call 1800 250 015.Learn more about Rainbow LodgeRead about Australia's Justice Reform Initiative's campaign Jailing is Failing This episode of Conversations discusses drug use, substance abuse, addiction, crime, mental health, toxic masculinity, manhood, fatherhood, parenting, turning your life around, getting clean, rehabilitation, rehab, intervention, AA, NA, sponsors, inheritance, heroin, methadone, ice, meth, illicit substances, incarceration, recidivism. 

From relationships and loneliness, to indecision and burnout, Jemma Sbeg is your guide to navigating your 20s, and looking back on that decade with a new perspective.When Jemma Sbeg started recording a podcast in the back of her Subaru about her quarter life crisis, she had no idea just how many people she would reach.But other people her age were desperate for guidance through their 20s - a decade a lot of us romanticise before we get there, and after we leave.It's a decade of massive growth for humans, when we make big decisions about relationships, careers and our own identities, but Jemma felt like she had no idea HOW to make the right choices.She had studied psychology at university, and so looked to psychological research papers to help her and her friends navigate attraction, heartbreak, friendship, imposter syndrome, career anxiety, burn out, mental health and living a happy life.Jemma's biggest lesson is realising while time is finite, we do have so much of it to "figure it out", and chances are you'll still be working many things out in your 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s.Person in Progress: A Roadmap to the Psychology of Your 20s is published by Hachette Australia.Jemma's podcast is called The Psychology of your 20s.If you liked this episode of Conversations, you might also enjoy listening to Doctor Hilton Koppe on his experience of PTSD, journalist Ros Thomas on her research into loneliness or psychologist Dr Tracy Westerman on psychology in remote Australia.This episode of Conversations explores psychology, podcasts, research, books, writing, anxiety, TikTok, social media, ADHD, self-diagnosis, growing up, how to survive your 20s, stay at home dads, heartbreak, mortality, death anxiety, social anxiety, university, what to study, how to get over heartbreak, first loves, building a career in media.

Winnie Dunn was a teenager when the Chris Lilley character 'Jonah from Tonga' became a national joke and as a Tongan Australian the stereotype made her feel uncomfortable.Despite being born into a big Tongan family in Western Sydney, Winnie felt conflicted about her heritage growing up.But over time her understanding of what it means to be Tongan evolved, and at the age of 28, Winnie became the first Tongan Australian to have a novel published.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 on the Conversations website.

Jamila's craniopharyngioma had been growing for years, unbeknownst to her. In hindsight, it was her son who gave the first clue, when he stopped breastfeeding overnight at 11 months old.Today Jamila is an author, a broadcaster and the deputy managing director of Future Women, dedicated to achieving gender equity in Australian workplaces.A few years back, her life was on a powerful trajectory — she had been the chief of staff for a federal MP, written best-selling books and was a regular guest on TV panel shows.Then in 2017, she realised something was wrong with her health.At first she wasn't worried. Then, at 31 she was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma — a rare and recurring brain tumour.When Jamila left the world of the well, her life changed completely, in funny, strange, and harrowing ways.Jamila's book Broken Brains: For anyone who's been sick or loved someone who was is co-authored with Rosie Waterland and published by Penguin Random House.This interview was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' EP is Nicola Harrison. The presenter was Richard Fidler.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 on the Conversations website.

Whale and dolphin researcher, Barry McGovern's love of sea creatures started in Clare, Ireland, when as a child he met the county's solitary, friendly dolphin, named for the singer Dusty Springfield.Barry grew up in a tiny surfing village where he knew all the bird calls off by heart.His interest in animal science led him to Edinburgh Zoo, where he fed cassowaries and regularly, accidentally spooked a flock of Chilean flamingos.He assisted on a mammal research trip in Namibia, where he learned just how many people are required to take biopsy sample from a giraffe. Eventually he settled on whales, and he learned the lesson that while animals can be lots of fun to study, they come with a heavy research load, and not much time spent out in the wild.Barry has been slapped in the face by a whale's tail and watched mother humpback whales squirt-feed their calves breast milk like cottage cheese. And he couldn't be happier. Today, Barry works at the Pacific Whale Foundation, Australia. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' EP is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski.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 on the Conversations website.

After a caesarean section on his labour ward went catastrophically wrong, Adam Kay took a radical inventory of his entire life. CW: traumatic childbirth, eating disorders.Adam was not far off qualifying as an obstetric consultant in the United Kingdom, when he decided he couldn't be a doctor any longer.He couldn't face ever again experiencing the tragedy of death during childbirth, nor could he understand the blunt response from his boss in the aftermath, and so he quit doctoring altogether. After a period of grief and depression, Adam reassessed his goals, his dreams and his relationships, completely up-ending the conventional life he had felt backed into.He turned to the diaries, which he had kept throughout his seven years working in hospitals, and became a stand-up comedian, then a television writer, an acclaimed author, the executive producer of a wildly popular TV series based on Adam's book, and most recently a father.CONTENT WARNING: This episode of Conversations contains accounts of traumatic childbirth and of disordered eating, which may distress some listeners.Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline on 13 11 14.Find out more about the Red Nose counselling services available to parents who have lost a child by calling the Red Nose Bereavement Support Line on 1300 308 307.If you or someone you know needs help with disordered eating, the Butterfly National Helpline is available on 1800 33 4673.This episode of Conversations explores studying medicine, the medical system, Medicare, overworked doctors, young doctors, junior doctors, obstetrics and gynaecology, delivering babies, careers, disordered eating, sexuality, marriage, LGBTQI+, fatherhood, surrogacy, mental health, comedy, touring, music, university life, should I study medicine.This Is Going To Hurt is published by Pan Macmillan.Undoctored is published by Hachette.Adam's debut novel, A Particularly Nasty Case, will be published by Hachette in August.You can stream the television series based on Adam's first book, This Is Going To Hurt, on ABC iView.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 on the Conversations website.

Briana Blackett was a journalist in Qatar when she realised her baby son Max wasn't responding to his name. When Max and his little brother Freddy were both diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Briana left Doha to begin an entirely different life (R)

Ray Seidler was a successful doctor and much loved by his many patients, he was also the nephew of the famous architect Harry Seidler and lived in a wealthy part of Sydney with his wife and four children.  To outsiders, it looked liked Ray had a lucky life.But behind closed doors he was locked in a herculean struggle with his own mental health and Ray's regular bouts of depression caused him to regularly 'run away' from his own home and family, and eventually led to his suicide. His son Jonno Seidler has written about his father's life, and his own mental health diagnosis, which he's been determined not to keep secret.This episode of Conversations focuses on men's mental health, suicide, Ray Seidler, Jonno Seidler, bi polar, family, family history, harm reduction, Seidler family, Jewish faith, grief, loss.

Erna Walraven was one of the first female zookeepers to work at Sydney's Taronga Zoo in the 1980s. Despite practical jokes from her male colleagues, like animal dung in her gumboots, Erna kept her nerve.She was born in The Netherlands, to parents who were involved in the Dutch resistance during World War II.Erna's love of languages took her to Spain, where she lived for many years with her widowed sister and young nephew.It was there she met a penniless Australian backpacker and fell in love, starting Erna on the path to the rest of her life.Erna's memoir Hear Me Roar is published by Affirm Press.This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. The executive producer of Conversations is Nicola Harrison. This interview was presented by Sarah Kanowski. 

Mawunyo Gbogbo was raised as a church-going African Australian girl in the sleepy mining town of Muswellbrook, before she grew up to become a hip-hop journalist and a writer (R)Mawunyo's parents had met in Ghana, migrating to Australia when she was a baby.At high school, Mawunyo fell hard for a charismatic boy, and for the first time, she was introduced to hip hop music.When she was offered a chance to further her budding media career in New York City at the Bible of hip hop, The Source magazine, she grabbed it.But while her time in New York was thrilling, it also threatened to derail her dreams.This episode of Conversations explores Biggie, Tupac, hip hop, rappers, Eminem, Kanye, music, addiction, African diaspora, regional NSW, religion, God, faith, love, migrant communities, relationships, first love.Hip Hop and Hymns is published by Penguin. The book has has been optioned by Tony Briggs, who created and wrote The SapphiresShe is now working on her next book, a novel about a psychiatrist who is more unhinged than his patients.

Luke Hura has innate ability to understand and communicate with animals and for decades he's been training them for film, TV and the stage.You've probably seen one of Luke's dogs in action, he trained Bouncer, the labrador from Neighbours, the kelpie from the film Red Dog and the maremma who starred in Oddball.Luke has trained cats, chickens and even earned the trust of a big black pig with tusks, whom he says was a dream to work with.Training takes patience, discipline, and endless repetition but Luke says building trust and being able to understand body language, energy and emotions is the most important.The executive producer of this episode was Nicola Harrison. It was produced by Jennifer Leake and presented by Richard Fidler.