The Leap Year

The Wheeler Centre

The Leap Year is a podcast about the stretching, shrinking days of 2020, and the impact Covid-19 has had on Australians’ lives, presented by Sally Warhaft.

  1. #24 Clem Baade on the road less travelled

    09/12/2020

    #24 Clem Baade on the road less travelled

    Clem Baade is a public servant and performer. He has worked for the Department of Human Services for thirty years, and this year, like many others, he moved his work and his art online. For the very last episode of The Leap Year, Clem talks to Sally about working with the DHHS and Rawcus Theatre, and how poetry has helped him through the pandemic.  With narration from Scott Limbrick and Robert Frost. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    25 min
  2. #23 Ed Caesar on adventure

    08/12/2020

    #23 Ed Caesar on adventure

    Ed Caesar is a contributing writer to The New Yorker whose work has taken him on a number of adventures, while covering stories about the mysterious owners of London’s largest private residence, Russian money-laundering scams, and Mount Everest in his latest book, The Moth and Mountain. Speaking to Sally from lockdown in his home in Manchester, the UK, Ed talks about craving fun, feelings of restlessness and his approach to research.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    26 min
  3. #22 Ramachandra Guha on India

    03/12/2020

    #22 Ramachandra Guha on India

    Ramachandra Guha is an Indian writer and social commentator, whose work traverses environmental, social, economic, historical and political issues. Speaking to Sally from India, he discusses India’s coronavirus response, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approach to crises and the relationship between cricket and nationalism. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    32 min
  4. #21 Ahmed Dini on the towers

    02/12/2020

    #21 Ahmed Dini on the towers

    Ahmed Dini is an African youth community leader, who lives in one of the nine Melbourne public-housing towers that underwent hard lockdown in July. In this episode, he speaks with Sally about the shock and the lingering implications for residents detained in their homes without warning, and about the dissonance between Victoria’s progressive self-image and the harsher reality laid bare by Covid-19. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    33 min
  5. #20 Hana Assafiri on nourishment

    30/11/2020

    #20 Hana Assafiri on nourishment

    Hana Assafiri is the owner of the Moroccan Soup Bar, a Melbourne dining and community institution, employing vulnerable women workers. In this episode, she talks with Sally about the creative ways she and her colleagues connected, supported and nourished each other during lockdown – and how the pandemic has shifted her understanding of community and hospitality. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    32 min
  6. #19 Alison Anderson on remote NT communities

    27/11/2020

    #19 Alison Anderson on remote NT communities

    The public health response to Covid-19 in remote Indigenous communities has been a remarkable success story of the pandemic in Australia. In this episode, Sally speaks with the former Northern Territory politician Alison Anderson, about how communities, health services and all levels of government worked together to keep Covid-19 out. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    31 min
  7. #18 Veronica Haccou on border towns

    25/11/2020

    #18 Veronica Haccou on border towns

    When the New South Wales-Victoria border opened up on Monday, Veronica Haccou was among those who felt great relief. Veronica lives in Albury, New South Wales, and works in Wodonga, Victoria. She'd been navigating daily border checkpoints since July, just to go to work. In this episode, she talks with Sally about the stark, surreal contrast between the two border towns during Victoria's second lockdown and about the widespread exhaustion in a community that has lived through devastating bushfires and a pandemic in a single year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    26 min
  8. #17 Will Smith on getting better

    23/11/2020

    #17 Will Smith on getting better

    At the start of the year, 23-year-old Will Smith was pursuing his dreams in Boston on a competitive rowing scholarship. When he returned to Australia in March, he was diagnosed with Covid-19. Eight months on, he speaks to Sally about the effects of ‘long Covid’ and how the virus has changed the course of his life.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    29 min
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About

The Leap Year is a podcast about the stretching, shrinking days of 2020, and the impact Covid-19 has had on Australians’ lives, presented by Sally Warhaft.

Information

  • Creator
    The Wheeler Centre
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Wheeler Centre
  • Show Website
    The Leap Year

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