Conversations

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.

  1. hace 10 h

    Encore: The Olympic swim coach who spat on a silver medal, and how it changed him

    Laurie Lawrence's obsession with winning Gold started when he was a small boy growing up above the Tobruk Pool in Townsville. When he became a coach, he had an epiphany about the nature of victory. When Laurie was a child, he had a chronic lung condition that meant he had to sleep sitting in a chair. Doctors advised his parents that an operation was necessary, and part of one of his lungs was removed. After the operation, Laurie's father took over the management of Townsville's Tobruk Pool, and the family lived in an apartment overlooking the lanes.  In 1956 the Australian Olympic team came to the pool to train there. A short time later, Laurie's mother fled the marriage and took her children to live in Brisbane where she ran a boarding house 'full of inebriates'. Laurie grew up to become a teacher, and won a place on the Australian Rugby Team.  Then he moved back to Townsville to start a new career as a swimming coach. In 1970, a 13-year-old girl Laurie was coaching named Helen Gray won a silver medal at the Queensland Championships. When she presented him with it, Laurie spat on the medal and threw it over the pool fence.  What he did that day eventually saw him ask himself big questions about the meaning of victory in the pool. Learn more about Laurie Lawrence at his website. Read about Laurie resources and programs to keep kids safe in the water: Kids Alive is supported by the Federal Government; World Wide Swim School is for teachers, parents, coaches and swim schools. Laurie has also released a new online interactive baby swimming resource. This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison. Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney. It explores sports, sporting life of Australia, being competitive, Australian Olympic team, drownings in Australia, why everyone learns to swim in Australia, equitable access to water, winning at all costs, learning to swim, when should my child learn to swim, Australian icons. Rugby Union, Wallabies, Australian sporting icons, water safety, water education, pool gates. 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.

  2. hace 1 día

    Caring for my fiercely strong-willed father

    Kim Huynh on his family's remarkable journey from Vietnam to Australia. And taking on the role of carer for his fiercely strong-willed father, Thiet. Kim grew up in Canberra, arriving in Australia with his family as refugees from Vietnam. Like many migrant children, Kim is a very driven person and has taken on a lot of responsibilities in life. He is an academic, an ABC broadcaster, an author and a father. And when his 80-year-old father had a serious stroke, Kim also took on the role of carer. He had to find a way to help look after his dad, with whom he was living, continue working, bringing in an income, and help raise his own son. As he continued to care for his father, Kim had to come to terms with the conflict between his dad's increasingly frail body and his still-fierce willpower; the same willpower that got his family to safety some 45 years earlier. As a carer and a father, Kim has also had to navigate the complexities of giving his whole self to the people he loves, while still feeling like he wasn't doing enough for anyone. My Old Man and Me is published by HarperCollins. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores family history, family origin stories, carers, stroke, Vietnamese refugees, Vietnamese in Australia, Vietnamese boat people, refugee crisis, migration, political asylum, fall of Saigon, Vietnam War, re-education camps, Indochina refugee crisis, Hoa people, fatherhood, intergenerational trauma, the body keeps the score, epigenetics, books, writing, memoir, taking care of your parents, fathers and sons. 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.

  3. hace 4 días

    Stories from our elders: how Jane Fonda changed her life in her third act

    The legendary actress Jane Fonda on her activism, her hair epiphanies and why older women are often fearless. Jane has lived her entire life in the public eye, as the daughter of acting aristocracy. Her father Henry Fonda was a Hollywood legend by the time she was born. Jane grew up to study acting with Lee Strasberg, and Marilyn Monroe was a classmate. But behind the public adoration, Jane was battling some big personal demons, including bulimia and the legacy of a shocking family tragedy. In her 30s she began re-assessing her life and work, and became a leader of the anti-Vietnam War movement, earning her the nickname of Hanoi Jane from the American Press. After the Vietnam War ended, she remained committed to political activism, so she released a series of work-out videos to help fund change in America. After two more marriages, Jane had an epiphany about her 'third act' of life. She decided to devote it to helping change the world, and now at 88 years old, she is still spending much of her time raising awareness about climate change and other social issues. This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison. Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney. It explores Hollywood, Hollyweird, celebrity culture, activism, climate change, the climate crisis, women's rights, women's empowerment, second wave feminism, intersectional feminism, Dolly Parton, 9 to 5, Gracie and Frankie, tech bros, oligarchs and billionaires, life lessons, old school Hollywood, Hollywood royalty, motherhood, parenting, Donald Trump, blacklist. 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.

  4. 22 sep

    Stories from our Elders: the chef who taught 37,000 Australians how to cook

    Elizabeth Chong didn't cook her first meal until she was a newlywed. Six decades later, the owner of a cooking school specialising in Chinese cuisine, she had taught more than 37,000 people how to cook. Chef, author and teacher Elizabeth Chong was born in China's Guangdong Province in 1931. When her heavily pregnant mother was expelled from Victoria under the White Australia Policy in the 1920s, the whole family returned to China. Years later her family returned and a young Elizabeth was free to roam the closed Queen Victoria Market on Sundays with her siblings. With fresh, fragrant and plentiful Chinese food at home, Elizabeth didn’t cook her first meal until she was married. Since then, she's made it her mission to raise the profile of Chinese cuisine, something she's done by teaching more than 37,000 people how to cook. In 2024, Elizabeth retired from teaching people how to cook, in her early 90s. This episode of Conversations was produced by Alice Moldovan. Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney. It explores refugees, refugee Australians, multiculturalism, monoculture, migration, immigration, Chinese history in Australia, Chinese cooking, Chinese food, families, dim sim, recipes, family recipes, Australian Chinese food, life advice, life advice from our elders, family dynamics, family separation, marriage, divorce, Masterchef, Australian cooks, famous Australian chefs, Australian cuisine. 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.

  5. 21 sep

    Stories from our Elders: Bryan Brown's road from Bankstown to Hollywood

    Bryan Brown has played more than 80 roles on stage and screen. Raised in working-class Sydney, his talent, hard work, and unmistakable presence have been his ticket to the world. In our week of stories from our elders, we begin with the life of Bryan Brown. Now aged 79, Bryan has had more film and television acting roles than he’s had birthdays, and is an instantly recognisable figure on screens around the world. From Breaker Morant and Newsfront to Two Hands and Sweet Country, a huge number of classic Australian films feature Bryan, a testament to his talent, popularity and work ethic.  Bryan also spent years in Hollywood, starring most notably in Cocktail and Gorillas In The Mist, before ultimately choosing Sydney over a life in America. In the 1980s, working on the American-made series The Thorn Birds utterly changed Bryan’s life. He and British co-star Rachel Ward fell in love and married soon after, forming a romantic and creative partnership that has endured ever since. More recently, Brian has found a new career writing crime novels, including The Drowning and The Hidden. This episode of Conversations was produced by Michelle Ransom-Hughes. Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney. It explores acting, Australian cinema, classic movies, Australiana, Australian kitsch, film history, fatherhood, love, rags to riches, Hollywood, anxiety, mental health, amateur theatre, theatre, Red Dog, men's mental health, love, farming. 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.

  6. 18 sep

    The radical history of personal computing—looms, coding, beige boxes and AI

    Mel Huang Buntine on how computers started entering our homes, and the beige box of a machine that changed her own life. Personal computers are so ubiquitous now, it's hard to imagine a time when computers were inaccessible to everyday people. For decades, computers were the size of rooms, and they were used for specialist tasks like processing large data sets for researchers, or sending men to the moon. But by the 1980s computers had become smaller and more affordable, and people started bringing them into their homes. From this point on, how everyday people interacted with technology changed forever. Mel Huang Buntine is a designer and technologist who was gifted her first computer as a tween in 1990s Melbourne. Mel lived in a multigenerational home with her mother, her grandparents and her great-grandmother, all of whom had escaped the Cambodian genocide as refugees. They couldn't understand why Mel was obsessed with this machine, but it completely opened up Mel's world and changed her life. Now with anxiety growing around AI, surveillance and mega tech companies, Mel is trying to get people to understand the history of computers and how they work. She hopes this will give back to people a sense of agency over machines, rather than feeling powerless to the opacity of algorithms and large language models. Radical Computing is exhibiting at the National Communication Museum in Melbourne from 19 September 2026, until 21February 2027. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores technology, artificial intelligence, Facebook, Instagram, social media, coding, making a website, HTML, CSS, PS5, playstation, games console, computer games, desktop games, Apple iOs 27, Mac, Macbook, Mac versus PC, IBM, Commodore 64, Steam Frame, iPhone, smartphone, dumb phone, Steve Jobs, Jack Tramiel, computer race, home appliances, toy market, super computers, science and technology, future of computers, techno optimist, tech subculture, Demoscene, hackers, jailbreak phone, crack software, pirated software, Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, ChatGPT, Claude, Anthropic, Zuckerberg. 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.

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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.

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