Episodes
Akmal Saleh — Not Quite What I Had Planned
Sep 22 2020
When Akmal and his wife decided to have a treechange by moving to Byron Bay, almost immediately a comedy of errors ensued, involving a python in the roof, a half-finished home and rats in the wall (R)
James Earl Jones — Not Quite What I Had Planned
Sep 21 2020
How the man who voiced Darth Vader and Mufasa overcame a childhood stutter to build a career on his rich, resonant voice (R)
Dave Graney — a musician's take on the art of the bludge
Sep 18 2020
Dave looks back on the many forms of employment and unemployment to have sustained him as a hard working musician (R)
The Salami Sisters, Puberty Blues, and beyond
Sep 17 2020
In the late 70s, Gabrielle Carey co-wrote a blisteringly honest novel about the real lives of teenage surfie chicks in Cronulla which caused a storm of public outrage. What happened next saw her make a new life far from the limelight
The story of a tank named Mephisto
Sep 16 2020
Why the only remaining WW1 German A7V tank is in Brisbane, Australia (R)
A Herdwick shepherd's epiphany
Sep 15 2020
A new conversation with James Rebanks on how he saved his family farm by returning to ancient ways of growing crops and meadows
Fifa Riccobono — godmother of Australian music
Sep 14 2020
Fifa started in the music industry at 16, and worked her way up the ranks of Albert Music to become CEO. In the 1970s she formed a beautiful friendship with AC/DC's wild lead singer Bon Scott
Jane Fonda - writing her own script
Sep 11 2020
Jane Fonda's big life has included Barbarella, activism, three husbands, workout videos and hair epiphanies. Now in her 80s, she's devoting her energy to raising awareness about climate change
Mudlarking and beachcombing — a family story of London rubbish
Sep 10 2020
Lisa Woollett's family made their living from combing through London's waste for treasures. Her great-grandfather was a scavenger and her grandad was a dustman, and as she grew up she also began mudlarking on the Thames
Bangarra's bold leader: Stephen Page
Sep 09 2020
When they were kids, Stephen and his brothers would climb onto the laundry roof and put on a show for their neighbourhood. Stephen's since made an exceptional career as a dancer, and at the helm of Bangarra Dance Theatre (R)
How Dyarubbin became the crucible of a colony
Sep 08 2020
Grace Karskens with the story of the riverlands of the Hawkesbury-Nepean, where ancient and modern Australia first collided
Maggie Dent - helping teenage boys grow into good men
Sep 07 2020
Maggie grew up around boys, then raised four sons of her own. Now she helps parents understand the changes teenage boys are going through as they cross the bridge from boyhood to manhood
Ivan Milat, tribal law, and making my father proud — Andrew Boe's story
Sep 04 2020
Andrew was a 4 year old when his family migrated to Australia from Burma. By his mid-20s he had his own criminal law practice. When he took on a client named Ivan Milat, his career became front page news
One thumb, one toe — Billy's escape from paralysis
Sep 03 2020
When a powerful wave he was riding sent him smashing into the sand, breaking his neck, former Army Ranger Billy Hedderman came within a breath of dying. Good fortune and an iron will featured in his recovery
Craig Foster's fight to save Hakeem
Sep 02 2020
After young Australian soccer player Hakeem al-Araibi was imprisoned in Thailand, Craig fought the power of two monarchies, a military junta, and the world's largest sporting institution to free him (R)
Geoff Goodfellow's poetry captures the spirit of working-class Australia
Sep 01 2020
A former boxer and builder's labourer, Geoff is now a highly successful poet (R)
The amazing life of Frida DeGuise
Aug 31 2020
How a girl from the suburbs of Melbourne grew up to become Australia's first female Muslim standup comedian
Melina Marchetta — that Italian girl
Aug 28 2020
The true story behind Looking for Alibrandi (R)
Richard Fidler's Prague
Aug 28 2020
Richard shares stories gathered while writing his biography of the city of Prague. Some emerged from his research trip of 2019, others involved deep historical research, and others are altogether more personal
Taking your cat for a walk and why dogs never stop loving — Jeffrey Masson
Aug 27 2020
Jeff's latest book on animal behaviour tackles grief — the loss we feel when a beloved pet dies, as well as the understanding other species have of death
Timothy Spall — the British actor digs deep on screen and in life
Aug 26 2020
Timothy’s stellar career, including roles in ‘Mr Turner’, ‘Secrets and Lies’, the Harry Potter films, and his latest, ‘Mrs Lowry & Son’, was almost cut short by a life-threatening illness (R)
Ray versus the road toll — a lifelong campaign against road deaths
Aug 25 2020
Dr Raymond Shuey saved countless lives during his career with Victoria Police, driving significant change to road rules, as well as how police respond to incidents involving the mentally ill. Ray is Victoria's Senior Australian of the Year 2020
The great hope of Isaiah Dawe
Aug 24 2020
Isaiah lived in 17 places in his first 18 years, none of them with his parents. Now he's established an organisation to give Indigenous young people in the out-of-home- care system everything he wanted back then: love, cultural and family connections, and a sense of pride
A daughter's unswerving love — Sarah Holland-Batt and her father
Aug 21 2020
Sarah Holland-Batt's dad Tony was a loving father, her intellectual mentor and her friend. At 18, she became one of his carers. Later she battled an aged care system which let him down in the worst way possible
The ancient trails of the South East Forests
Aug 20 2020
After decades walking in the South East Forests of NSW, John Blay thought he knew them well. Then Indigenous friends showed him the Bundian Way, a trail from the mountains to the coast predating both the Silk Road and the Roman Empire
Dylan Moran and the white-knuckle ride of standup
Aug 19 2020
Dylan Moran on his County Meath childhood, making Black Books, and why he gave up drinking for good (R)
Rozanna's curious life
Aug 18 2020
Rozanna Lilley was raised in a bohemian household by her parents, writers Dorothy Hewett and Merv Lilley. In her early teens, her childhood was carelessly broken. Later she made a good life for herself as a writer and an autism academic ***CW: This episode discusses sexual assault
Walking from Camooweal to Birdsville with nine goats
Aug 17 2020
Owen Davies on his 98-day trek with goats and dogs, walking more than 990 kilometres down the Georgina River in outback Queensland (R)
The brutal and beautiful world of Australia's native bees
Aug 14 2020
Sugarbag bees who headbutt their queen to death are among the many Australian bee species which fascinate ecologist Toby Smith (R)
Stranded — what Claire learned from falling
Aug 13 2020
Claire Nelson was in the Joshua Tree National Park hiking alone when she strayed from the trail and slipped, shattering her pelvis. Her phone was out of range, and she knew she had to stay alive long enough for someone to realise she was missing
Falling for a fake
Aug 12 2020
Stephanie Wood was a successful, confident journalist when she fell for a romantic fraudster (R)
The apartment on Memorial Drive
Aug 11 2020
Natasha Trethewey was 19 when her mother Gwendolyn was brutally murdered. During this great rupture in her life Natasha began to garner acclaim for her poetry. In 2012 she was named America's Poet Laureate
The Weabonga lessons
Aug 10 2020
Peter O'Brien was a new minted teacher in 1960 when he took a job at a one-room bush school in Weabonga, NSW. The living was hard, but the job was incredibly sweet
Myth and Legend — Kate Forsyth on the dark origins of beloved fairytales
Aug 07 2020
The stories which preceded modern iterations of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood were often much more disturbing (R)
Myth and Legend — Battles, fairie curses and the evil eye: why old Irish tales still delight us
Aug 06 2020
Irish novelist Paedar O'Guilin weaves old myths into startling new stories (R)
Myth and Legend — the creation of Wonder Woman
Aug 05 2020
Historian Jill Lepore untangles the secret history of one of the 20th Century's most striking superheroes. She explains the myths, politics and eccentric genius behind behind the Wonder Woman story
Myth and Legend — Neil Gaiman on classic Norse mythology
Aug 04 2020
Neil explores some of the stories from Nordic mythology which have captivated him since childhood (R)
Myth and Legend — the monsters and morals of Sarah Perry
Aug 03 2020
Sarah's life took a gothic turn as she crafted her version of Melmoth (R)
The dark Lithgow childhood of Rampaging Roy Slaven
Jul 31 2020
Comedian and writer John Doyle was raised in a mining town in a music-loving Catholic family. Behind closed doors, his family life was often turbulent, as his sister Jen had been born profoundly autistic at a time when the condition had no name
The world of the holocaust's 'hide-away' children
Jul 30 2020
Author Bart van Es with the story of the young Jewish girl Lien de Jong, hidden by Bart's Dutch grandparents during WWII when they joined the resistance
Bronze age pigs and ancient dingoes — stories from the bones
Jul 29 2020
How zooarchaeologist Melanie Fillios uses the remains and fossils of animals, including dingoes, to understand more about ancient humans
The sister who stayed behind
Jul 28 2020
Writer Favel Parrett’s grandmother fled Prague as a teenager, but her sister stayed on, and then lived through both Nazism and Stalinism (R)
Stan Grant's life in storytelling
Jul 27 2020
Stan Grant on his life as a journalist, author and filmmaker from the Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharawal First Nations of Australia
Swimming, the Sisters of Mercy, and the search for meaning
Jul 24 2020
At 15, Rebecca McCabe was on track to compete in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics for swimming. As swam, she would often ask herself big questions about the meaning of life. When her life in the pool ended abruptly, she decided to take a huge leap of faith
Fascinating fungi — the intelligent kingdom
Jul 23 2020
Biologist Merlin Sheldrake's extreme experiments, many of which involve his physical body and varying forms of fungi, have led to equally remarkable discoveries
Rise and fall of the Rock Star
Jul 22 2020
David Hepworth charts our fascination with that most earth-bound of gods, the rock star; and discusses some of music history's striking examples
Eddie Woo on finding the right formula
Jul 21 2020
Despite never really liking maths at school, Eddie made up his mind in the teaching sign-on queue, to become a maths teacher. This split-second decision changed his life, and the lives of many of his future students (R)
Floating though the dolines
Jul 20 2020
Cave diver Stefan Eberhard has spent decades exploring the vast underwater caves of the Nullarbor Plains, where the water teems with blind shrimp and colourless fish, and curtains of bacterial slime hang glistening from the ceiling
From a mountain monastery
Jul 17 2020
Paul Haller grew up Catholic in Belfast, and his pursuit of meaning has since taken him around the world. Now a Zen priest, Zen practice and teaching became Paul's calling: from retreating to a cave in Thailand; to teaching meditation, to the incarcerated, and the dying, in San Francisco
Lying on the job — the story of an undercover officer
Jul 16 2020
Keith Banks spent twenty years in his dream career with the Queensland Police. He was awarded for bravery several times, but left the job angry and disillusioned. He now reflects on what the job and police culture were like in the 1980s and the cost of lying for a living
Bill Bryson and the wonders of the human body
Jul 15 2020
Why is scratching an itch so pleasurable? How can someone leap from a burning plane in the sky and survive with a few bumps and scratches? A journey through the wondrous complexity of the human body (R)
Territory taxidermist — Jared Archibald
Jul 14 2020
Jared spent his childhood behind the scenes at the Museum of the Northern Territory, up close to prehistoric kangaroo fossils, opulent trading pearls, and sacred crocodiles flown in from Arnhem Land. Then he became the museum's taxidermist
Nardi Simpson on Crocodile Country
Jul 13 2020
Yuwaalaraay writer, storyteller and performer, Nardi Simpson of the Stiff Gins talks about her life, art and the meaning of country
A boy, his pony and the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Jul 10 2020
Lennie Gwyther was 9 years old when he rode Ginger Mick from country Victoria to Sydney to be at the opening of the Bridge (R)
In Pico Iyer's Japan the air is thronged with ghosts
Jul 09 2020
Pico was a journalist in New York when a 20-hour layover at Narita airport in Japan made him question everything. He decided to begin again as a monk at a Zen temple in Kyoto. But things didn't go entirely to plan
The raptor whisperer
Jul 08 2020
Peggy McDonald has spent much of her life as wildlife carer who specialises in helping wedge-tail eagles, falcons, owls and other raptors recover their ability to fly
Magic mushrooms, micro-dosing and Michael Pollan
Jul 07 2020
How Michael Pollan 'shook the snowglobe' of his mind by investigating the therapeutic effects of psychedelic substances
The heart expands to fit — a family's adoption story
Jul 06 2020
Justine Flynn's five children were all born in South Korea and adopted into her family
The epic hunt for the deadly Taipan
Jul 03 2020
Brendan James Murray on the elusive copper-coloured snake species which terrorised post WWII North Queensland (R)
Not your average dentist
Jul 02 2020
Sharonne Zaks was working as a dentist when an encounter with a patient named Anna led her to develop a radical new branch of dentistry (R)
The life of 'Mr Eternity'
Jul 01 2020
Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Arthur Stace rose before dawn to write a one-word sermon in chalk on the footpaths of Sydney. Writer Roy Williams unearthed the truth about Arthur Stace's life story with the help of those who knew him personally (R)
Leigh Sales and the days after the worst possible day
Jun 30 2020
Leigh went through an event in 2014 which changed her profoundly. She was left questioning how we cope when the unimaginable happens (R)
Tim Rogers' daydreams
Jun 29 2020
The frontman of You Am I on his life in music, his Kalgoorlie childhood, and his battles with anxiety (R)
Glennon Doyle's untamed life
Jun 26 2020
Glennon was the world's most famous Christian mummy blogger when she fell wildly in love with U.S Women's Soccer star Abby Wambach
Deborah Feldman: rejecting my Hasidic roots
Jun 25 2020
Writer Deborah Feldman grew up inside the claustrophobic world of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect in Brooklyn, and as a teenager she was married off to a man she barely knew. In her 20s she fled to Berlin to make an entirely new life
The daredevil of Monte Cristo
Jun 24 2020
Lawrence Ryan grew up in a dilapidated Victorian-era homestead called Monte Cristo. From when he was young, he knew he'd grow up to become a professional stuntman, jumping his motorbike over cars, buses and planes
Peter Norman and the day that shook the Olympic movement
Jun 23 2020
Matt Norman's late uncle Peter won a silver medal at the 1968 Olympics, then was notoriously cast out of Australian sport (R)
The Nazi Brigadeführer who got away
Jun 22 2020
Philippe Sands on how a cache of letters sent him on the trail of Nazi war criminal Otto Von Wachter, who escaped to Rome on the 'Ratline'
The women of Steel City
Jun 19 2020
Robynne Murphy, film-maker and former steel worker, on the Wollongong women who took on BHP for the right to work alongside men at the steelworks
What Jack Reacher did next
Jun 18 2020
How a Birmingham boy became best-selling thriller writer, Lee Child (R)
How Johnathan Thurston became one of the greats
Jun 17 2020
When Johnathan was a boy he was written off as too skinny and too wild for rugby league (R)
Jesse Blackadder: when Lucie left
Jun 16 2020
The late writer with the story of a terrible accident in 1976 which completely changed her family (R)
Outposts — what Dan found at the ends of the Earth
Jun 15 2020
Dan Richards follows his curiosity to some of the most remote habitable places in the world including an Icelandic cabin and a monastery high in the mountains of Japan
Vika and Linda Bull — on song and in harmony
Jun 12 2020
Hearing their Tongan mother’s powerful voice rise above the congregation in church, primed Vika and Linda for a life in song. Their distinctive harmonies and dazzling energy have seen them grace stages and studios for thirty five years
The girl from Kilkivan
Jun 11 2020
In the midst of Lisa Millar's brilliant career as a journalist, she found herself in the grip of aviophobia, a crippling fear of flying (R)
Opium everywhere — on the trail of the 'Milk of Paradise'
Jun 10 2020
Historian Lucy Inglis on humankind's greatest painkiller and how its trade and cultivation are threaded through the story of civilisation, and the lives of every one of us
The comic genius of Jennifer Saunders
Jun 09 2020
The co-creator of Absolutely Fabulous says her success rests on a series of happy accidents and calls herself an extreme procrastinator (R)
Conspiracy theories and me
Jun 08 2020
When Danna Young's husband Mike received a terrible diagnosis, she found herself drawn to conspiracy theories in the search to find someone, or something to blame
Hannah Gadsby and the point of no return
Jun 05 2020
The Australian comedian on Nanette, her 'farewell' to stand up comedy; being diagnosed with high-functioning autism as an adult; and on Douglas, the show and the dog
Pasi Sahlberg — making school the happiest place to be
Jun 04 2020
When Pasi was a boy he would sneak into his father's empty schoolroom in northern Finland and pretend to be a teacher. Now he's one of the world's leading voices in education, encouraging schools to help kids find their passion in life, and to follow it
Talking magpies, grieving tawny frogmouths and canny galahs
Jun 03 2020
Gisela Kaplan fell under the spell of birds when she hand-reared a magpie nestling. When it learned to speak, she was so intrigued she switched careers to study avian behaviour. Her books on Australian native birds have been ground-breaking (R)
Voicing velociraptors and capturing the dawn chorus — the soundscapes of Douglas Quin
Jun 02 2020
Meet a sound designer and naturalist who makes field recordings all over the world. He then puts them to use in soundscapes for film and television, galleries, museums and apps (R)
Uncle Jack Charles — not true blue, true blak
Jun 01 2020
Uncle Jack was forcibly removed from his mother as a baby and denied his Aboriginality. A one-off trip to Fitzroy connected him with a family he didn’t know about, and promptly landed him in jail (R)
From the Festivals — Tim Flannery on Europe's bizarre prehistory
May 29 2020
Europe's startling deep past explained: pygmy dinosaurs, blue-eyed Neanderthals; and how an asteroid the size of Manhattan ruptured everything (R)
From the Festivals — Andrew Sean Greer
May 28 2020
The Pulitzer Prize winning author of Less was working as an odd-jobs man for an Italian Baroness when a phone call upended his life (R)
From the Festivals — Cheryl Strayed
May 27 2020
Walking through grief and facing up to life on the Pacific Crest Trail, the true story of Wild (R)
From the Festivals — Lemn Sissay
May 26 2020
Celebrated British poet Lemn Sissay grew up not knowing his given name or his Ethiopian parents. His life was shaped by being adopted, and then raised in state care (R)
From the Festivals — James Rebanks the Herdwick shepherd
May 25 2020
James explains the traditions, language and pleasures of shepherding in England's Lake District (R)
Chasing Robert Cutter
May 22 2020
When Darleen Bungey set out to uncover her father's past she discovered a Hollywood heartthrob and a singer whose records outsold Bing Crosby's
Maira Kalman: 'I fall in love so many times during the day'
May 21 2020
Maira's daily life as a New York-based artist who likes to paint trees, dogs and hats, and why the contents of her mother's closet became famous
The pigment whisperer
May 20 2020
One of the world's only master paint-makers, David Coles on how he found a life creating colours like Lapis Blue and Rose Madder (R)
This is your Captain speaking
May 19 2020
On 9/11 Captain Beverley Bass diverted her American Airlines jet to a tiny town in Newfoundland, along with thousands of other airspace refugees (R)
With a shark under each arm: Dr Fish Feelings
May 18 2020
Dr Culum Brown's work on fish cognition has proven fish have long memories, sharks have friends, and Sting Rays know it's the weekend
Miranda Tapsell — Kakadu, Cannes and love stories that matter
May 15 2020
Miranda's story from growing up in Kakadu National Park as a Larrakia Tiwi girl, to finding fame in The Sapphires, and co-creating Top End Wedding, the first romantic comedy set in the Northern Territory
Moomins, motherhood and me — Sheila Heti
May 14 2020
Sheila Heti on the life of Finnish writer Tove Jansson who created the Moomins, and some of her own reflections on her choice about whether or not to become a mother
Helen Garner — from Moonee Ponds to Paris
May 13 2020
Helen recently published her diaries from the years 1978 to 1987. They include her thoughts on writing and work, parenting, love affairs, and the quest for the right pair of shoes (R)
A true Lord of the Flies story and what we got wrong about human nature
May 12 2020
Rutger Bregman takes a new look at the accepted idea that humans are just one disaster away from bad behaviour. He says our species' survival has long depended on the best aspects of our nature, such as kindness and the sharing of ideas
Hayley Katzen's unexpected life as a farmer's wife
May 11 2020
When Hayley moved to a cattle property to live with her farmer girlfriend, the rural idyll wasn't quite as she imagined
Marian Keyes on growing up
May 08 2020
A new conversation with the Irish novelist, on what it means to be a grown up, and standing her ground on Ireland’s moral questions
Adrian Mole and the Shropshire postman
May 07 2020
Young Robert Lukins modelled himself on the fictional character Adrian Mole, a prodigious reader and writer (R)
Sandy Mackinnon's fantastic voyage through the canals of Europe
May 06 2020
Sandy was teaching at a school in the English countryside when he set off in a Mirror dinghy, intending to sail as far as Gloucester (R)
William Dalrymple on the ruthless rise of the British East India Company
May 05 2020
How a group of financiers from a poor and damp island on the outer rim of Europe created a private company which came to rule India (R)
The speech collector
May 04 2020
Tony Wilson was always drawn to the world's great speeches. Then, without warning, he was called on to make the most difficult speech of his life
Kindness and coincidence — Naomi Shihab Nye
May 01 2020
Naomi is an American poet and author living in San Antonio, Texas. Her family story is marked by life-changing coincidences, and narrow escapes
Not fourteen for ever
Apr 30 2020
How Shannon Molloy survived the worst year of his life, as a gay teenager at an all boys' school on the coast of Central Queensland
Magda Szubanski — my father, the assassin
Apr 29 2020
A much-loved performer digs into the challenging truth of her father's past (R)
Christiaan Van Vuuren's fully sick life
Apr 28 2020
While confined to a hospital room for months with a rare form of tuberculosis, Christiaan found love and an entirely new path in life
Disappointing Dickens — Charles Dickens' son in the Australian outback
Apr 27 2020
Tom Keneally with the story of Edward 'Plorn' Dickens who was sent to live in Australia when he was sixteen in the hope he might redeem himself
The life and death of boxer Davey Browne
Apr 24 2020
In 2015, Sydney boxer Davey died of brain swelling after he was knocked out in the ring. When journalist and boxer Stephanie Convery reported on the inquest, she found a sport in a collective state of denial
A therapist peers inside her own mind
Apr 23 2020
When therapist Lori Gottlieb found herself in therapy after a devastating breakup, she began to rethink her own life story
John Prine — from Paradise to Nashville
Apr 22 2020
A songwriter's songwriter, John turned his often bemused view of people and politics into songs for fifty years (R)
16 sunrises and sunsets in a day — life aboard the Space Shuttle
Apr 21 2020
Astronaut Jim Bagian on working, eating and sleeping in micro-gravity while orbiting the earth at 28 000 kilometres an hour
The healing power of dogs
Apr 20 2020
Kate Leaver became fascinated by the curative qualities of dogs after her Shih Tzu Bertie helped her through her darkest days
Big Adventures — aviator Charles Kingsford Smith
Apr 17 2020
Biographer Ann Blainey with the tale of Smithy, king of the Milky Way, and his audacious flight across the Pacific in his plane the Southern Cross (R)
Big Adventures — Alexander McCall Smith
Apr 16 2020
How a lifetime exploring different landscapes inspires the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, who's also one of the world's most prolific writers (R)
Big Adventures — Paula Constant Part 2
Apr 15 2020
Walking the Sahara, towards the fabled city of Timbuktu and into Niger (R)
Big Adventures — Paula Constant Part 1
Apr 14 2020
A breathtaking Saharan adventure: camels, bandits and one fearless woman (R)
Min Jin Lee's good fortune
Apr 10 2020
The author of bestselling novel, Pachinko, explores the lives of generations of Koreans in Japan (R)
Bonus: when Sarah's Dad's fruit shop map went viral
Apr 09 2020
Thanks to her dad’s hand-drawn map, a shopping trip Sarah Kanowski made for her parents during the Covid-19 crisis gladdened hearts on social media around the world. In this father-daughter chat, meet Sarah’s dad, 89-year-old Peter Kanowski
Hugh Mackay on building community in a crisis
Apr 09 2020
Social researcher Hugh Mackay on the many ways Australian society can pull together while we're meant to live apart
Paul Kelly and the poetry
Apr 08 2020
Australia's storyteller in song on poems he's loved since childhood, and how reading and learning great poetry has changed his song writing (R)
Ray Collins — life in the black, and the blue
Apr 07 2020
Ray was a coal miner when an accident underground left him lying prone in a tunnel a kilometre beneath the earth. What he did next changed the course of his life
Julia Baird on finding shards of light in dark times
Apr 06 2020
After journalist Julia Baird survived a terrible bout of cancer, she began to think about what sustains us when the world goes dark
Doll's prams and hand-knitted togs: a Hockney family portrait
Apr 03 2020
John Hockney grew up in an unconventional family of five siblings in post-war Yorkshire. As a child, his brother David drew constantly on any paper he could find. He grew up to become the world's most famous living artist
A father and son odyssey
Apr 02 2020
When Daniel Mendelsohn signed up for a Mediterranean cruise to Ithaca with his aging father, neither of them could have predicted what would happen next
Bill Bailey — seriously funny amateur naturalist
Apr 01 2020
Bill Bailey's passion for twitching began as boy growing up in England's west country (R)
Tales from captivity
Mar 31 2020
Stories of imagination, poetry and menace while living in captivity, from Kari Gislason and Candice Fox
Elizabeth Gilbert on love and letting go of normal
Mar 30 2020
How a flash of insight about her life saw Liz upend almost everything in it
Bringing life-saving dialysis to Central Australia
Mar 27 2020
Sarah Brown always wanted to be a remote area nurse. Then she began a medical revolution (R)
Saving tiny lives — the mission of a flying midwife
Mar 26 2020
Jan Becker on saving the lives of newborn babies in the 'golden minute' after birth (R)
Graham Martin on going from doctor to patient
Mar 25 2020
Psychiatrist Graham Martin learned a lot of new things about medicine when he unexpectedly and painfully became the patient (R)
Nursing on Sydney's streets
Mar 24 2020
When working with people experiencing homelessness, Erin Longbottom looks to their strengths to help them find their way to health, and a home (R)
The man who saved a million brains: Creswell Eastman's pioneering work with iodine deficiency disorder
Mar 23 2020
Abolishing iodine deficiency throughout the world was this doctor's mission (R)
The Queen of Country — Joy McKean
Mar 20 2020
Travelling Australia with her husband Slim Dusty brought challenges and rewards
Ten women — a series of murders in Depression-era Sydney
Mar 19 2020
Tanya Bretherton tells the story of the victims whose killings were largely ignored by police, and whose fate haunted the streets of eastern Sydney
The story of the Snowy
Mar 18 2020
When Siobhan McHugh set out to write a history of Australia's Snowy Scheme, she unearthed stories of pugnacious unionists, drowned towns and a love story on a laundry floor (R)
The life of Angela Lansbury
Mar 17 2020
The warm, funny and slightly terrifying Angela Lansbury opens up about her seven-decade long career on stage and screen (R)
Life after Troll Hunting
Mar 16 2020
After she was trolled online, Ginger Gorman turned to face her attackers, and developed a completely new understanding of why people abuse others online
Building a school for the world’s poorest children — Gemma Sisia's story
Mar 13 2020
A donation of land and $10 was all Australian-born Gemma needed to establish The School of St Jude in Tanzania
Parenting our parents — Jean Kittson on looking after Mum and Dad
Mar 12 2020
As Jean negotiated the maze of caring for her ageing parents, she began collecting the information she found useful, as well as asking herself and others deeper questions about aged care
Hannah Kent and the Good People of Ireland
Mar 11 2020
The fairies of Ireland's folk culture were capricious twilight creatures who could bestow favour or grave misfortune (R)
The miracles and limits of modern medicine
Mar 10 2020
Doctor Karen Hitchcock peers into the culture of modern medicine, from the flu season to female viagra, to dementia and the humble sick day
Devices and democracy: will Big Tech control us?
Mar 09 2020
Jamie Susskind on how digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics and virtual reality are transforming our political systems
Changing how we talk about rape
Mar 06 2020
Extraordinary survivor Sohaila Abdulali was seventeen when she was gang raped and forced to fight for her life (R)
This anxious life: Dr Mark Cross
Mar 05 2020
Mark is an experienced consultant psychiatrist who also suffers from Australia's most common mental health condition, anxiety. His direct insight helps him understand how people with anxiety can thrive at work and in life
The secret life of the Grey Plover
Mar 04 2020
Andrew Darby flew around the world on the trail of a small, unassuming migratory shorebird called the Grey Plover. In the middle of his journey, without warning, he began to fear for his own survival
The songs of trees
Mar 03 2020
Biologist David George Haskell on how he discovered the unique songs of trees, and the way they interconnect (R)
Julia's forgetful heart
Mar 02 2020
Julia Stevens was one of Australia's top triathletes when doctors told her they needed to implant a tiny defibrillator inside her chest wall to keep her alive
Matt Okine on growing up when everything is falling apart
Feb 28 2020
Matt on his Brisbane childhood, losing his mum at the age of 12, and how a chance conversation with his university drama teacher altered the course of his life
Jackie French and the Valley
Feb 27 2020
Jackie has lived in the Araluen Valley of NSW for 46 years, where powerful owls boom through the nights and lyrebirds scratch up the garden. In recent months hundreds of native animals have arrived, seeking shelter from Australia's worst-ever fires
How a former ironman made the beach accessible to everyone
Feb 26 2020
For a time, surf-loving athlete Nick Marshall was a professional Ironman. Then he created a new way for kids with special needs to be included at the beach
A revolutionary idea to stop good food going to waste
Feb 25 2020
Ronni Kahn saved 45,000 tonnes of food from landfill and changed how we think about food waste
Eric Idle's life on the bright side
Feb 24 2020
Eric on life before and after Monty Python's Flying Circus (R)
Mike Hayes and the Holy Grail of winemaking
Feb 21 2020
Mike was 15 when he left school to chip weeds in a Queensland vineyard. Forty years later he found himself in Portugal holding one of the world's oldest grapevines trying to discover if grapes can survive global warming.
Thea Hayes the walkabout nurse
Feb 20 2020
When Thea was hired as a nurse on one of the largest cattle runs in the world, the job expanded to include hostessing and saving cows with clover bloat. In 1975 she was at Wave Hill Station when Gough Whitlam handed the Indigenous owners back their land
Botox, castrations and beauty pageants: Inside the world of Australia's only camel vet
Feb 19 2020
Margie Bale's car is loaded with ultrasounds, milk crates and angle grinders. All the things needed when you're tending to 7-foot tall camels in the middle of nowhere without a clinic in sight
Young Hitler
Feb 18 2020
How WWI helped a homeless vagabond named Adolf Hitler become the dictator of the German Reich (R)
The pavlova in the suitcase
Feb 17 2020
Michelle Garnaut on how she began one of the world's most famous restaurants in communist-era Shanghai (R)
The unusual life of Rima Hadchiti
Feb 14 2020
At 100cm tall, Rima is one of the smallest people in the world. But throughout her life, she's demanded to be heard
Lorenzo Montesini's Vietnam War love story, and life after Pitty Pat
Feb 13 2020
In 1990 Lorenzo shocked Sydney society by leaving heiress Primrose Dunlop at the altar in Venice to run off with his best man. But behind the headlines was an epic love story which began in the Vietnam War
Benny and the pact with God
Feb 12 2020
When doctors told Benny Agius her baby son had Down syndrome, she was full of anxiety about his future. Then Richard grew up to defy everyone's expectations
Taking the pulse of a dopesick nation
Feb 11 2020
The opioid crisis is destroying hundreds of thousands of American lives and Beth Macy has been up close to it (R)
Villainesses, Vulcans and a new sort of sexuality — the life of Judith Anderson
Feb 10 2020
Judith was an Australian who found screen stardom in 1940s Hollywood, and has since became a lesbian icon. Biographer Desley Deacon tells her story
Fish, frogs and a photographer
Feb 07 2020
Nature photographer Gary Cranitch on his working life floating off the Great Barrier Reef to capture a split-second image of the 'biggest orgy on the planet'
Steve's life in the London squats
Feb 06 2020
Steve Bevington talks about his years in the thick of an underground movement of London squatters, who would break into abandoned buildings, change the locks and claim them as their own
When Robert met Maida
Feb 05 2020
Former politician Robert Tickner grew up in country NSW, 'showered with love' by his adoptive parents. When he began the search for his biological mum Maida in his 40s, he discovered she'd been much closer than he ever knew
Life in 248 dimensions
Feb 04 2020
Mathematician Geordie Williamson spent eight years cracking the code to find the weight of atoms in space (R)
The truth about space junk
Feb 03 2020
Space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman on the unexpected artefacts of the space age (R)
Higher ground — rebuilding a town after disaster
Jan 31 2020
Jamie Simmonds on the successful relocation of Grantham, Queensland after it was destroyed by catastrophic flooding
Grantham — the town that washed away
Jan 30 2020
When an inland tsunami smashed into a rural Queensland town in January 2011, people were killed and the town destroyed. Jamie Simmonds became the right-hand-man of Mayor Steve Jones, and they led an audacious recovery project
1956: Australia's pivotal year
Jan 29 2020
Historian Nick Richardson on the year that changed Australia forever
Toad vs toad: outwitting the cane toad with ingenious biology
Jan 28 2020
Rick Shine used one toad to defeat another, by a process of evolutionary conditioning, to save the snakes he was studying in Northern Australia (R)
William McInnes on being a dad
Jan 27 2020
William wanders through stories of fatherhood, from growing up in Queensland in the 1970s, to raising his own children as a single dad (R)
After triple zero — a paramedic's tale
Jan 24 2020
Benjamin Gilmour describes the hectic work of saving lives, and what it's like to bring people back from the brink of suicide
Mary's three gurus
Jan 23 2020
How a young woman fell under the spell of spiritual cult leaders in the 1970s
How Sean Sweeney found his deaf heart
Jan 22 2020
Sean was the first hearing baby to be born to his mother’s family in four generations. He became an Auslan interpreter, and an instantly recognisable figure during Australia's bushfire crisis
Claire G. Coleman's many lives
Jan 20 2020
Claire grew up running wild in the Banksia forests of Southern Western Australia. As an adult she had a period of homelessness, living on the streets of Melbourne. After learning the truth of her family's story, Claire found her focus
Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church
Jan 19 2020
Megan Phelps-Roper grew up inside the notorious Westboro Baptist Church family. In 2012 she left the church, and her family, to live in the world she once reviled
Best of 2019 — Bryan Brown
Dec 20 2019
Bryan’s 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 (R)
Best of 2019 — Ron McCallum
Dec 19 2019
Left totally blind by treatment he received as a premature baby, Ron credits technology, love, and good timing with his success in life and the law (R)
Best of 2019 — Archie Roach
Dec 18 2019
Archie tells of writing Took the Children Away and playing it in public for the first time, of his belated reunion with his siblings, and his love story with Ruby Hunter (R)
Best of 2019 — Pia Winberg
Dec 17 2019
Pia began her own seaweed farm after decades as a marine ecologist. One ordinary working day there was a terrible accident (R)
Best of 2019 — Vickie Roach
Dec 16 2019
Vickie's met with trouble all through her life, starting with a police record at the age of two. She went on to challenge a Federal law on the rights of prisoners (R)
Peter Helliar's gothic side
Dec 15 2019
When comedian Peter Helliar was a child, he was fascinated by the idea of death, and wrote about it endlessly. Then he grew up to become the 'world's happiest comedian'
Summer Holidays: a story collection
Dec 13 2019
Tales of the great Australian summer holiday from Mark Trevorrow, Alice Pung, Jack Hoysted and Steph Tisdell
Ben and the Big Issue
Dec 12 2019
Ben grew up in Drumchapel, a Glasgow housing estate. As a young man, he built a thriving career as a musician, went to University and married. But some years later, he was homeless
Helen Garner: from Paris to Moonee Ponds
Dec 11 2019
Helen recently published her diaries from 1978-1987. They include her thoughts on writing and work, parenting, love affairs, the quest for the right pair of shoes, and the pleasures of mowing the grass
The end of the Milky Way
Dec 10 2019
Astrophysicist Lisa Harvey-Smith on how Andromeda is due to collide with our galaxy in five billion years time (R)
The true history of the Ark before Noah
Dec 09 2019
How Irving Finkel stumbled upon the true story of the Ark before Noah on a Babylonian clay tablet
British actor Timothy Spall digs deep
Dec 06 2019
Timothy’s stellar screen career, including roles in ‘Mr Turner’, ‘Secrets and Lies’, the Harry Potter films, and his latest, ‘Mrs Lowry & Son’, was almost cut short by a life-threatening illness
Dylan Moran and the white-knuckle ride of stand up comedy
Dec 05 2019
Irish comic Dylan Moran on his unusual childhood, the story behind Black Books, and why he's given up drinking for good
Craig Foster and the battle to save fellow footballer, Hakeem al-Araibi
Dec 04 2019
After Hakeem was imprisoned while on his honeymoon in Thailand, Craig fought the power of two monarchies, a military junta, and the world's largest sporting institution to free him
The doctor known as 'The God of Sight'
Dec 03 2019
Nepalese surgeon Dr Sanduk Ruit on his work in the villages of Nepal which has restored the sight of more than 150 000 people (R)
Rescuing the boys from the cave — Richard Harris
Dec 02 2019
An anaesthetist and cave diver, Richard had the exact combination of skills needed to help save the lives of a Thai soccer team trapped deep underwater
Paul Kelly and the poetry
Nov 29 2019
Australia's storyteller in song on poems he's loved since childhood, and how reading and learning great poetry has changed his song writing
Drones and forgiveness
Nov 28 2019
How a young computer scientist found his way out of a traumatic childhood
War crimes, bombings, secret lives — Tony Jones turns truth into thrillers
Nov 27 2019
The retiring host of Q&A reflects on his time with the show, and how his years reporting from the former Yugoslavia have helped him craft best-selling fiction
How Christos found radical compassion
Nov 26 2019
Writer Christos Tsiolkas broke away from the Christian church as a teenager. As a grown man, in a moment of personal crisis, he rediscovered the letters of St Paul and saw them in a different light
Inside the engine room of power
Nov 25 2019
How Samantha Power became one of world's most influential foreign policy thinkers
The honourable fight: 16 years as Director of Public Prosecutions NSW
Nov 22 2019
Nicholas Cowdery oversaw some of Australia's most sensational cases during his 16 years in the role. His decisions often made him enemies in politics and the media, but he was always motivated by the prospect of a fair trial
Watching the universe from the Hubble Space Telescope
Nov 21 2019
NASA astronomer Jennifer Wiseman on exploring the design of the universe (R)
Hidden histories of Chinese Australia
Nov 20 2019
Tim Watts MP has a deeply personal reason for wanting to resurface stories about Chinese migrants to Australia. From pre-Federation, to the Kelly gang, to the Melbourne Olympics, he tells how their influence weaves right through our culture
Capturing the souls of abandoned pets
Nov 19 2019
When Peter Sharp's severe back pain forced him to give up work, he believed he was unemployable. Then began photographing lost and abandoned dogs, cats, guinea pigs and chickens
Ray Bonner, Bolivia and the big risk
Nov 18 2019
New York Times journalist Ray Bonner spent decades reporting from some of the world's most dangerous places. Then he moved to Australia, and made one of the riskiest decisions of his life
Postcards from God — artist William Robinson
Nov 15 2019
William is considered one of Australia's greatest living artists. But it took years for his work to be recognised as brilliant
The ferocious power of Rebekah
Nov 14 2019
At the age of 2, Rebekah Robertson's son George calmly explained to his mum that he was a girl. After years of turmoil in the family, Rebekah began devoting much of her life to helping Georgie be herself. In the process, she changed history
Clare Bowditch and the breakthrough
Nov 13 2019
How Clare overcame grief she'd stored away since childhood, found a way to manage anxiety, and embraced a joyful, messy life
Inside the dictator's mind
Nov 12 2019
Frank Dikotter on the common personality traits of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao and other twentieth century dictators
Armistice: The Good Friends
Nov 11 2019
The story of two men who fought for different sides on the western front, and an unexpected friendship between their descendants (R)
Talking magpies, grieving tawny frogmouths and canny galahs
Nov 08 2019
Gisela Kaplan fell under the spell of birds when hand-rearing a magpie nestling. After it learned to speak, she was so intrigued she switched careers and began her research into avian behaviour. Her many books on Australian native birds have been ground-breaking
Finding new ways to grow old
Nov 07 2019
After both her parents died young, Charlotte Wood grew up believing she would never grow old. When she reached her 50s, she began to ask some big questions about aging
My second family is in Vanuatu
Nov 06 2019
Physiotherapist Sky Fosbrooke’s stint as a volunteer health worker led to a deep attachment to the people of a small South Santo village
David McAllister: a life in dance
Nov 05 2019
When David McAllister began ballet lessons in Perth in the 1970s, being a 'ballet boy' was a kind of social death. But his school bullies helped spur him on to become one of the world's best dancers
William Dalrymple on the ruthless rise of the British East India Company
Nov 04 2019
The outrageous story of a group of financiers from a poor and damp island on the outer rim of Europe, who created a private company that became the biggest military and political power in all of India
Archie Roach: turning spirit into song
Nov 01 2019
Archie tells of writing Took the Children Away and playing it in public for the first time, of his belated reunion with his siblings, and his love story with Ruby Hunter
Di Morrissey and the tragedy on Lovett Bay
Oct 31 2019
Di Morrissey grew up in a tiny village only accessible by rowboat, with film star Chips Rafferty and poet Dorothea Mackellar as her neighbours. In 1954, a terrible accident on Lovett Bay changed everything
The writer and the Prince
Oct 30 2019
While fleeing the aftermath of a failed marriage, Hilary McPhee accepted a job in Jordan to write the autobiography of a Hashemite Prince. Living alone for the first time, she was plunged into extreme loneliness
Murgon's shining star: Leah Purcell
Oct 29 2019
Leah was a teenager working in a small-town meatworks when she discovered her true path in life (R)
The force of Will
Oct 28 2019
Winemaker Will Rikard-Bell was working at Hunter Valley winery when a catastrophic explosion knocked him off his feet. He sustained burns to 70% of his body, and his skin needed to be almost entirely rebuilt (R)
In the shadowlands: McMafia author Misha Glenny on organised crime
Oct 25 2019
As a young man studying in Europe, Misha formed underground links that would propel his whole career. The former BBC correspondent interviews criminals all over the world to understand the all-pervasive webs of modern organised crime
Que Minh Luu doesn’t need a hug
Oct 24 2019
How hot young widows, perceptive friends and twitter kept television executive Que afloat after the death of her husband
Tara Westover's escape from ignorance
Oct 23 2019
Tara was raised by parents who were radical Mormon survivalists, preparing for the End of Days. Although they didn't believe in traditional schooling, Tara taught herself in secret and made it to Cambridge and Harvard (R)
Life in the shadow of Long Bay
Oct 22 2019
Patrick Kennedy on growing up next door to some of Australia's most violent criminals (R)
Surviving kidnap in Sierra Leone
Oct 21 2019
Aminata Conteh-Biger was kidnapped by rebel militia when they stormed her village and ransacked her family home. A strange series of events saw her released, but then she was still being hunted (R)
The chair with five legs
Oct 18 2019
As a girl, Davida Allen was brought up to be a proper young lady. Instead, she covered her naked body in paint and rolled around to make art. She grew up to become one of Australia's most famous painters (R)
Child convicts, lost boys and the murder at Point Puer
Oct 17 2019
British boys as young as nine were transported to Van Diemen's Land for petty crime. 3000 of them were incarcerated at Point Puer, the first prison in the world built exclusively for children
Strange rescuers: my father's Holocaust
Oct 16 2019
Juliet Rieden traces the story of her Czech father, who was taken as a child refugee to Britain a week before the Nazis arrived in Prague, and thus spared the fate of his extended family
Kumi’s Japanese inheritance
Oct 15 2019
Australian journalist Kumi Taguchi grapples with divided loyalties after the death of her father
Story of a blood red rose
Oct 14 2019
Kate Forsyth tells the origin story of a fairy tale staple, the ever-flowering red rose. Her version has its roots in Imperial China, and arrives via the French Revolution
Dear Dolly Doctor, Am I normal?
Oct 11 2019
Dr. Melissa Kang explained sex, puberty and periods to teen girls in her role as Dolly magazine's ‘Dolly Doctor’. She spent 23 years answering questions sent by mail, that young people were too embarrassed to ask out loud
Dinosaur fields: finding fossils on the family farm
Oct 10 2019
The random find of a dinosaur bone on her Queensland property led Robyn Mackenzie to develop an outback museum of international importance, and a deep sense of wonder at prehistoric geology
Chasing the dream that was Prague
Oct 09 2019
Author Favel Parrett’s grandmother escaped from Czechoslovakia as a teenager, but her sister stayed behind - suffering the twin nightmares of Nazism and Stalinism
Finding the right formula with Eddie Woo
Oct 08 2019
Waiting in line to enrol for a teaching degree in history and English, Eddie was persuaded to pursue maths instead. Despite never really liking maths at school, he signed up. The split-second decision changed his life, and the lives of many of his future students
The lucky accident of Sydney's Opera House
Oct 07 2019
Helen Pitt on how the luminous shells of Australia's most loved building nearly didn't make it off the drawing board (R)
Discovering my father's secret life in France
Oct 04 2019
Growing up, Louisa Deasey knew very little about her late father's life. Then she found a bundle of his lost love letters (R)
The sex life of brains
Oct 03 2019
Neuropsychologist Dr Amee Baird on the mysterious connections between our brains and our desires
What's next for the Greens?
Oct 02 2019
From the party of protest to the balance of power, journalist Paddy Manning looks at the history of Australia's most successful third party
Bill Bryson and the wonders of the human body
Oct 01 2019
Why is scratching an itch so pleasurable? How can someone leap from a burning plane in the sky and survive with a few bumps and scratches? Take a journey through the wondrous complexity of the human body
Nursing on Sydney’s streets
Sep 30 2019
When working with people experiencing homelessness, Erin Longbottom looks to their strengths to help them find their way to health and a home
A friendship and a giant literary hoax
Sep 27 2019
Alison Hoddinott and Gwen Harwood were great friends with a shared love of English, family, and thumbing their noses at convention (R)
The evolution of Charlie Veron: the Great Barrier Reef's first scientist
Sep 26 2019
School was nearly the undoing of the intensely curious child who went on to discover nearly a quarter of the world's coral species, and be awarded the Darwin Medal (R)
A vibrant life - Kath Venn at 84
Sep 25 2019
The late Kath Venn was a powerhouse of community spirit. After serving in Tasmania's parliament, she was State President of the Housewives Association, a marriage celebrant and much else besides (R)
RAF pilot Frank Dell's story of survival in Nazi occupied Holland
Sep 24 2019
In October 1944 Frank's De Havilland Mosquito was shot out of the sky and he parachuted into Nazi territory (R)
Secret of the native hibiscus: western science meets Indigenous knowledge
Sep 23 2019
Botanist and Dharawal elder Fran Bodkin uses western science to explain up to 80,000 years of Australian Indigenous plant knowledge (R)
Why is so little known about women’s bodies?
Sep 20 2019
After attending a conference on endometriosis in 2015, journalist Gabrielle Jackson broke down in tears. She realised she knew nothing about the disease that had been wreaking havoc with her body
One hundred acres of bamboo
Sep 19 2019
Durnford Dart longed to return to life on the land, where he’d spent his best childhood years. He went on to pioneer bamboo farming in Australia
The tangled web of spirituality
Sep 18 2019
Seeking a connection with a higher power led Rob Donnelly into the Catholic priesthood, but the reality of a religious life was not what he expected
Ben Folds' dream about lightning bugs
Sep 17 2019
Ben on his musical career, the art of song writing and his brief stint as a one-man polka band in a German restaurant