Program: Conversations

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Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may, or may not, have heard about — someone who has seen and done amazing things.

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Helen Garner's love letter to her grandson, and football

When writer Helen Garner began following her grandson’s under-16s football team, she gained a new appreciation for 'the ordinary beauty of human society'.

Published: YesterdayFri 6 Dec 2024 at 3:00amwith Sarah Kanowski

Author Helen Garner, pictured looking solemnly at the camera against a dark background.

Duration: 53 minutes 19 seconds

Cyclone Tracy 50 years on — the epic survival stories of a cub reporter and a woman in the navy

Finance journalist Alan Kohler and Patricia Collins, who had just joined the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service, recall their vivid memories from the night that irrevocably changed Darwin

Published: ThuThu 5 Dec 2024 at 12:00amwith Sana Qadar

Darwin Cyclone Tracy__PDP000589 (ABC Archives)

Duration: 50 minutes 10 seconds

Love, jail, Jesus, and pubs - a tangled tale of four very different parents

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.

Published: WedWed 4 Dec 2024 at 1:00amwith Sarah Kanowski

Duration: 52 minutes 25 seconds

Professor Richard Scolyer: Melanoma expert turned brain cancer patient

When Richard's team developed pioneering treatment for melanoma, he didn't expect he would become the first person in the world to use this experimental therapy on his own, terminal brain tumour.

Published: TueTue 3 Dec 2024 at 12:00amwith Sarah Kanowski

A man with fair hair looks into the camera, smiling.

Duration: 52 minutes 16 seconds

Antarctica, Kiribati and outback Australia — the adventures of a GP doctor

When Dr Gillian Deakin became a GP, she knew she didn’t want to work behind a desk. Instead, she travelled overseas to make a difference.

Published: MonMon 2 Dec 2024 at 1:30amwith Sana Qadar

An older woman with blonde hair in a blue dress, smiling at the camera.

Duration: 47 minutes 18 seconds

Jonathan Haidt on 'attention fracking' and how to stop tech companies from stealing your child's focus

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt says it is time to reinstate the play-based childhood to bring our kids back from life online and into the real world, away from their increasing obsession with devices.

Published: 29 Nov 2024Fri 29 Nov 2024 at 12:00amwith Sarah Kanowski

A man with light grey hair smiles in front of an building, outdoors.

Duration: 52 minutes 18 seconds

The secrets in the stars — what we can learn about habitable planets, alien life and ourselves

Dr Laura Driessen takes you 26,000 light-years away, into the centre of our galaxy and beyond in the search for radio stars, supermassive black holes and supernova remnants.

Published: 28 Nov 2024Thu 28 Nov 2024 at 12:00amwith Sana Qadar

LauraDriessen_Headshot (USYD The School of Physics)

Duration: 46 minutes

Alice Zaslavsky's hunger for life

The Masterchef graduate and cookbook author grew up in Georgia as the Soviet Union was crumbling, gorging on plums in her grandfather's garden. During this time the young, voracious Alice couldn't keep her food down at kindy.

Published: 26 Nov 2024Tue 26 Nov 2024 at 11:15pmwith Sana Qadar

A stylised photo of cook and TV host Alice Zaslavsky surrounded by colourful fruits, vegetables and flowers

Duration: 52 minutes

Pip Williams — from dyslexia to the Dictionary of Lost Words

Pip Williams was diagnosed with dyslexia as a teenager. She grew up to write a novel inspired by the history of the Oxford Dictionary, which soon became an international bestseller. (R)

Published: 26 Nov 2024Tue 26 Nov 2024 at 12:00amwith Sarah Kanowski

Duration: 53 minutes

Jon Ronson on psychopaths, sociopaths and how to spot them

The journalist delves into the history of experimental psychopathy treatment in Canada, which included mass, nude LSD trips. Years ago, journalist Jon Ronson did a course on how to spot a psychopath.

Published: 25 Nov 2024Mon 25 Nov 2024 at 12:00amwith Sana Qadar

A man with glasses looks intently into the camera, in front of a park backdrop.

Duration: 49 minutes 12 seconds

Feature Articles

Tennis star Jelena Dokic needed security '24 hours a day' to protect her from her dad

Jelena Dokic opens up about experiencing family violence as a child and during her tennis career.

Action shot of Jelena Dokic fiercly preparing to return a serve

Published: 25 Nov 2024Mon 25 Nov 2024 at 6:02amby Fiona Purcell

Shark quiz: How much do you know about great whites and megalodons?

Is your shark knowledge a bit … fishy? Let's find out how well you know these impressive ocean predators.

Close-up of shark with wide, flat head with its mouth open and shark teeth exposed

Published: 11 Nov 2024Mon 11 Nov 2024 at 12:43am

How the vicarious trauma of a job led to this mother's postnatal psychosis

Ariane Beeston worked as a child protection officer for years, but she didn't realise how much the trauma of her work had impacted her until she had a child of her own.

A woman sitting on a couch cuddling a newborn baby, both are asleep.

Published: 8 Nov 2024Fri 8 Nov 2024 at 1:41amby Fiona Pepper and Fiona Purcell

This journalist spent two years working with the invisible people behind the death industry

When Hayley Campbell was just a child, she had an encounter with death that began a lifelong curiosity about what happens when we die.

Black and white image of woman with long dark hair staring directly into camera

Published: 10 Oct 2024Thu 10 Oct 2024 at 5:07amby Fiona Purcell

Highlights

Conversations from the Pacific

From the dramatic forests of Fiji, to the striking rivers of Papua New guinea, Conversations takes you into the Pacific to hear remarkable stories from our closest neighbours

The bow of a boat can be seen travelling toward an island in Fiji.

Published: 30 Jun 2023Fri 30 Jun 2023 at 3:36am

The Artist's Way

It's a tough road to success through the arts. What drives our artists and musicians to explore their vulnerabilities so publicly?

Stage light shines on a microphone, blurred and darkened background.

Published: 18 Jan 2023Wed 18 Jan 2023 at 3:20am

Amazing Science

From the depths of the ocean to far-away planets and into the human brain, let these scientific explorers astound you

A satellite in space with Earth in the background.

Published: 18 Jan 2023Wed 18 Jan 2023 at 3:21am

Secrets in the Suburbs

The Aussie 'burbs harbour many secrets. Learn about unassuming spy rings, neighbourhood cults, and curious mysteries solved in suburbia

A redacted document with "Top Secret" stamped on the front page.

Published: 18 Jan 2023Wed 18 Jan 2023 at 3:18am

Frequently asked questions

Conversations FAQs

Find out the answers to many questions we are asked regularly.

Published: 3 Apr 2023Mon 3 Apr 2023 at 2:28am

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