Conversations

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Channel • 8 Shows

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Updated 15/12/2017
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Updated 31/07/2025
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Updated 05/12/2014
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Updated 16/12/2011
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Updated 22/07/2025
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Updated 03/07/2025

26/06/2024

The ferryman from life to death

After Richard Gosling's young daughter survived horrific injuries and open heart surgery, he became a funeral director, leaning into the emotional intensity of that space between life and death

26/06/2024

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54 min
27/06/2024

Ben Lee: chutzpah mystic, Bondi rock prodigy, Noise Addict

Ben Lee was a teen rock prodigy by the time he was 14. He then began decades of making music, Hollywood fame, and a journey into alternative spirituality, including the world of ayahuasca Ben Lee grew up in Bondi in the 1980s when it was a place of bikie gangs, Yiddish-speaking grandmas and tribes of kids living next to one of the world's most beautiful beaches. He was educated at a local Jewish school where he confounded his Rabbi by asking some surprising questions about Moses. Ben was always a seeker, and even as a boy, he also possessed a whole lot of chutzpah. At the age of 14 he saw Nirvana play at the Big Day Out. The next day he started his own band and two years later Ben was flying to America to support Sonic Youth. This began a wild few decades of making music, Hollywood fame, and a lengthy exploration of alternative spirituality, including a time in an ashram in India, and many ceremonies with ayahuasca, a hallucinogen found in a vine in the Amazon. After many years, Ben emerged with a crucial realisation about his life story. He is now living back in Australia with his wife Ione and their teenage daughter. Further information Find out where to see Ben on his Australian tour Ben and Ione Skye Lee have a podcast, Weirder Together 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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

27/06/2024

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50 min
03/07/2017

Sami Shah asks what Islam looks like in Australia

Sami is a writer, a comedian and an atheist who was raised in a Shia Muslim family

03/07/2017

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52 min
03/08/2025

20th Anniversary Collection: the story of the unwitting woman behind cell research and 'immortality'

Henrietta Lacks was the first human being that we know of to get close enough to 'immortality' to touch it. She died more than 50 years ago but her cells live on. 'HeLa' cells were the first human cells to be grown for research, and have been vital in medical advances since the 1950s. But what fascinated science major Rebecca Skloot the most about these cells, was how little was known about the woman behind the name. So she set out to discover who Henrietta Lacks really was. Further information First broadcast in July, 2010. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is published by Picador. Rebecca's book was turned into a film starring Oprah Winfrey. You can learn more about Henrietta online. Standout story – Helen MacDonald You can also hear Richard's full conversation with Helen Macdonald on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also read all about the Conversations origin story on the ABC News website. This episode of Conversations explores science, science communication, weird science, female scientists, modern history, medicine, medical history, medical research, cells, cancer, curing disease.

03/08/2025

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53 min
31/05/2010

Maggie Hamilton is concerned about how young boys are growing up

Broadcast date: Friday 28 May 2010

31/05/2010

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53 min
25/11/2009

Ash Abdollahi's body building lifestyle, and Bernadette O'Shea's champagne expertise

Broadcast date: Wednesday 25 November 2009

25/11/2009

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52 min
24/04/2009

John Rendall and Anthony 'Ace' Bourke

Broadcast date Friday 24th April 2009

24/04/2009

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52 min
21/04/2009

James Murray's escape to Arnhem Land, and Cate Kennedy on short stories

Broadcast date Tuesday 21st April 2009

21/04/2009

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52 min
20/11/2009

Alex Miller tells why his writing success was a long time coming

Broadcast date: Friday 20 November 2009

20/11/2009

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52 min
19/06/2009

Brian Sherman went from businessman to animal rights advocate

Broadcast date: Friday 19 June 2009

19/06/2009

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50 min

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.