Conversations: Art & Passions

From the screen, the stage and the kitchen, the greatest voices on creativity, art and following their passions sit down for a Converastion with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski. Guests include musician Nick Cave, Hollywood's Jane Fonda and Masterchef's Poh Ling Yeow. In this collection of episodes, we’ve reached back into the rich archive and curated a selection of episodes where our guests speak about lived experiences and in the worlds of Art, Music, Cooking, Acting, Celebrity, following your dreams, overcoming self-doubt, imposter syndrome and critics etc. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversationspodcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowskigo 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.

  1. 22 JUL

    Teaching Nina Simone how to love me: a daughter's story

    Singer Lisa Simone is the only person in the world who can call Nina Simone 'mommy'. Lisa was the beneficiary of Nina's incredible talent and her affection, but she was also at the mercy of her mother's erratic moods.  Lisa is the only child of the legendary singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist Nina Simone. As a little girl, Lisa loved trying on her mum’s stage costumes and singing with her at the piano at home. But after her parents divorced, Nina’s moods became erratic, and Lisa was often the target of her mother's violent outbursts. Lisa escaped back to New York, then into the United States Air Force, and then onto Broadway, finally launching her own musical career. It was only after she had her own daughter that Lisa found a way to reconnect with her mother on her own terms. Further information Lisa is on tour in Australia at the moment with her show, A Daughter's Tribute to Nina Simone She is performing at the QPAC in Brisbane on Wednesday 23 July and at Adelaide's Her Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday 26 July. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris, executive producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores family dynamics, jazz music, motherhood, therapy, songwriting, mental health, mental illness, bipolar, performance, Dublin Jazz Festival, mother daughter relationships, epic origin stories, the military, the US military, veterans, musical theatre.

    52 min
  2. 12 JUN

    Actor and Hollywood It Girl Ione Skye on surrendering her Rock 'n' Roll past and forgiving herself

    The Gen X actor on making peace with her absent father, the ghosts of her Hollywood past and nursing Anthony Kiedis 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 Kiedis, 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 information Say 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. 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.

    47 min
  3. 15 MAY

    Ghost stories and executions in Iceland — when Hannah Kent and Agnes Magnusdottir became entwined

    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.

    51 min
  4. 15 ABR

    From Manila to Sydney to the Archibald Prize — Artist Loribelle on finding family and love

    The artist Loribelle Spirovski on her unusual childhood in the Philippines, meeting her father for the first time at 7 years old, and making her way as one of Australia's most exciting young painters. Loribelle Spirovski grew up in the Philippines, with her mum and her extended Filipino family. Her Serbian father, whom she had never met, was in Australia, driving taxis and waiting for the visa that would allow him to bring Loribelle and her mum to join him. Loribelle didn't meet her father until she was 7 years old, and when she saw him for the first time at Manila Airport, she was shocked by how hairy his arms were and the way he smelled just like she did. Eventually, the family was properly reunited in Sydney, Australia, where Loribelle had to navigate family and cultural ties, where she found love and where she made her way as one of Australia's most exciting young artists. This episode of Conversations explores painting, creativity, writing, books, love, marriage, Simon Tedeschi, William Barton, the Archibald Prize, art education, art teaching, chronic pain, chronic injury, identity, memoir, family dynamics, origin stories, refugees, Serbia, former Yugoslavia, music, piano, singing, language, mothers, fathers, long-distance relationships. White Hibiscus is published by Upswell. You can see some of Loribelle's art at her website and on her Instagram page. In July, 2025 Loribelle won the People's Choice Award for the 2025 Archibald Prize for a portrait she painted with her fingers of Kalkadunga musician William Barton. 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.

    52 min
  5. 9 ABR

    The life-changing power of a choir - From Guyanese activist forming an Aboriginal Women’s choir

    Song propelled Morris Stuart from his early life shepherding sheep in British Guyana to an unlikely love story in London. In his retirement, he found himself shaping a choir of Central Australian Aboriginal women, who had been breathing life into 138-year-old Lutheran hymns. Morris Stuart met his Australian wife, Barbara in London in the 1960s. The pair led a youth group attached to a nearby church, and initially tried to ignore their growing feelings for each other. Morris was a young, Guyanese activist who was descended from African slaves, and wasn’t ready to face the social reality of marrying across racial lines. Morris and Barb fell in love and married several years before the film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? was released, and featured at several screenings in London, where community members could ask them questions as a real life, interracial couple. The couple went on to have four children and moved to Australia, where Morris became a pastor with a community church in Melbourne. In their retirement, Morris and Barbara developed relationships with the Warlpiri community in Central Australia.  They arrived in Alice Springs in 2005 and Morris started recruiting for a choir. More Indigenous communities started joining in and Morris formed the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s choir. They performed hymns brought by German Lutheran missionaries to the region in the late 19th Century, which were translated into Pitjantjatjara and Western Arrernte. The choir’s biggest achievement is a tour to Germany in 2015 — to perform the hymns that had all but vanished from use in Germany, but have been preserved in the Central Australian desert for 138 years. Follow the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir on Facebook. Watch the documentary about the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir tour to Germany, The Song Keepers.  This episode of Conversations touches on heritage, epic life story, origin stories, church, personal stories, childhood and reflection. 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.

    51 min
  6. 3 ABR

    From street fighting petty criminal to portrait artist - How Vincent Fantauzzo's life was saved by love and painting

    When artist Vincent Fantauzzo was a boy he was a street-fighting petty criminal with dyslexia and a blazing talent for drawing. He escaped jail time, and grew up to become one of Australia's most well-known portrait artists. VIncent Fantauzzo is one of Australia's most successful portrait artists. For his luminous, photo-realistic paintings he's won the People's Choice Award at the annual Archibald Prize more than any other artist. He's also won the Moran National Portrait Prize twice, once with a painting of his friend, filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, and the second time with a painting of his wife, actor Asher Keddie. All the success is a long way from his upbringing in Broadmeadows in Melbourne, when at times it seemed like he was going to end up in jail, or dead. Vincent struggled so badly with dyslexia that he developed elaborate rituals to avoid writing at school, which is partly how he came to drawing.  He became a street-fighting petty criminal and he was kicked out of school at 14 and was drawn into a violent world where he had to be extraordinarily streetwise to survive. Vincent still carries the scars of surviving his childhood into the big, beautiful life he's built for himself as one of Australia's most well-known artists. This episode of Conversations explores origin stories, social disadvantage, parenting, father son relationships, boxing, learning disabilities, struggling in school, Hollywood, the art world, Heath Ledger, Kim Ledger, Batman, family, family dynamics, life story, art, portraits, painting, juvenile crime, drug dealing, hot houses, brothers. Unveiled, written with Craig Henderson, is published by Penguin. 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.

    52 min
  7. 5 MAR

    Singing for her life: Camille O'Sullivan on Ireland and her dearly departed friends

    It took a catastrophic car accident for the singer and actress to leave a decorated career in architecture and focus on her artistic ambitions, including a tribute show to her friends Sinead O'Connor, and Shane MacGowan of The Pogues. Irish-French singer and performer Camille O’Sullivan grew up in County Cork, with her Irish father and French mother. Although she sang throughout her youth, she was persuaded to become an architect and went on to win awards for her work. But after she nearly lost her life in a harrowing car crash, she decided she had to be honest with herself and become the singer she always wanted to be.  Camille has brought her unique voice to the songs of Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf, Nick Cave and Radiohead. In her newest show, she’s honouring two late Irish singers who were her friends: Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan from The Pogues.  This episode of Conversations touches on epic life stories, origin stories, Ireland, Irish singing, Jacques Brel, friendship, songwriting, poetry, and performing. 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.

    44 min
  8. 28 ENE

    Singing as 'sweet relief' — Meg Washington on stuttering, spirituality and song

    The musician reflects on the epic evolution of her singing from practical childhood speech therapy to sacred musical fluency. Meg Washington was born in a musical home in Port Moresby, where her parents had met as Australian expats. Meg and her sister spent a lot of their time watching classic Hollywood musicals and also down at the local yacht club where their dad DJ'd every Saturday night. Singing became something Meg was encouraged to do herself after she developed a stutter as a little girl. And eventually it grew from a therapy into a thrill. Meg's stutter was something she did her best to disguise while building her career as a singer and songwriter in Australia. But after going public about her speech impediment in a TedX Talk, Meg realised she no longer cared about hiding who she was. This honesty led to a whole host of exciting new opportunities – including becoming the voice of Calypso in Bluey, and making a film with her husband based on the iconic Paul Kelly song, “How To Make Gravy”. This episode of Conversations explores origin stories, parenting, artists, music-making, Hugo Weaving, reflection, family dynamics, Australian music scene, Christmas movies, motherhood, TedX, Ted Talk, public speaking, speech impediments, speech therapy, Papua New Guinea, PNG, expats, Australian expats, Christianity, religion, spirituality, The Deb, Rebel Wilson, The Killers, Hot Fuss, Batflower Records. 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.

    53 min

Acerca de

From the screen, the stage and the kitchen, the greatest voices on creativity, art and following their passions sit down for a Converastion with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski. Guests include musician Nick Cave, Hollywood's Jane Fonda and Masterchef's Poh Ling Yeow. In this collection of episodes, we’ve reached back into the rich archive and curated a selection of episodes where our guests speak about lived experiences and in the worlds of Art, Music, Cooking, Acting, Celebrity, following your dreams, overcoming self-doubt, imposter syndrome and critics etc. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversationspodcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowskigo 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.

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