Conversations

Ros Thomas, a globe-trotting journalist and columnist, shares her deep dive into the universal experience of loneliness. She recounts meeting a 70-year-old man who found solace with a small robot, and visits a unique Swedish share house where the elderly and young asylum seekers support one another. Ros opens up about her own childhood struggles with loneliness after her father left, and highlights innovative solutions, like AI companions and community hubs, to combat this growing epidemic.

Kate McClymont, the fearless chief investigative reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald, shares her gripping journey uncovering crime and corruption in NSW. She reveals how a seemingly innocent wedding assignment led to her first death threat. McClymont discusses the emotional toll of journalism, the resilience gained from personal loss, and her unique transition from busking in Kings Cross to breaking major stories. With over ten Walkley Awards under her belt, she highlights the critical role of investigative reporting in seeking truth and holding power accountable.

Krystyna Duszniak, a professional historian dedicated to uncovering lost Polish family histories, shares her profound journey into the past. She discusses the secrets and untold stories lurking in family archives, often tied to World War II. Full of emotional complexity, she helps families connect with hidden relatives and unsavory truths. Krystyna reflects on her father's influence on her love for Polish culture and the bittersweet revelations she encounters while navigating intricate family dynamics and relationships throughout her research.

Peter Norris's father was a notorious bank robber who lived life on the run, dragging his boy across the country with him, until Peter refused to go with him one last time. It was the hardest decision he ever had to make.Peter Norris grew up on the run with his criminal father, Clarence 'Clarry' Norris.Every time Clarry was arrested, he would find a way out of custody and fulfil his promise of coming back to his son, and every time they reunited they would be off once more tearing across Australia.Peter climbed out windows at foster homes, and escaped group homes for boys to be with his dad, in Sydney, in Shepparton, Perth and Port Hedland.Until one day, his father came back to Peter when he had landed on his feet in the home of a beautiful foster family in regional Victoria.The faith the Dullards had in Peter gave him the courage to finally say "no" to his loving, caring, criminal, complicated dad.It was the hardest decision he ever made, but while desperately Peter wanted to be with his father, but didn't want to be him.It was the last time Peter ever saw his father. This episode of Conversations discusses family dynamics, origin stories, crime, criminality, theft, intergenerational trauma, foster care, abandoned children, group homes, remand centres, Baltara, homelessness, abuse, parenting, grief, closure, fatherhood, father son relationships.The Bank Robber's Boy is published by Simon & SchusterOn Anzac Day in 1935, a tiger shark vomited up a tattooed human arm inside a Sydney aquarium.When Phil Roope looked into the cold case he found an astounding true tale of Sydney's fascination and horror around sharks in the 1930s, a severed arm emblazed with boxing tattoos, a homicide, police corruption, a Gladstone Bag, and a thriving smuggling racket for drugs, stockings and lead paint.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.Further informationShark Arm is published by Allen and Unwin

Martha Jabour was a young mum when her baby son Michael died suddenly. In the thick of her grief, she worried for the devastated young police officer who had come to her home that day, before he unexpectedly reappeared in her life (CW: this conversation discusses the death of a child).Martha Jabour has lived through the worst possible day for a parent. When she was a young mum, she put her baby Michael to bed one night, and by the morning he had died in his sleep. Michael was just 7 weeks old, and because his was an unexplained death, there were police on her doorstep, and a post-mortem, and an ambulance which took away her baby boy.At the time of Michael's death in the 1980s, not much was known about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).Martha threw herself into support groups, fundraising, and helping to change the story for parents like her, affected by the shocking and unexplained loss of their babies. Within a few years, research discovered more about the causes, and today rates of SIDS have fallen by nearly 90%.Martha trained as a grief and trauma counsellor, and her work with grieving parents saw her tapped on the shoulder to start a Homicide Victims Support Group.It was a job she initially said she’d only do for a year - but it became her life’s work.This episode of Conversations explores SIDS, death of a child, grieving, grief, policing, community policing, motherhood, fatherhood, parenting, birth stories, sick children, sudden loss, cot death, trauma, shock, counselling, therapy, support groups, where to find support.Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week  on 13 11 14, or text them 0477 13 11 14.Red Nose also offers counselling services to parents who have lost a child. Their number is 1300 308 307.

While working as an undercover cop, Nick Kaldas played a drug baron in the market for vast quantities of hemp oil, tracked a fugitive with a penchant for hair transplants, and posed as a hit man for a spurned lover.Nick was a 21-year-old immigrant lad from Egypt when he decided to join the NSW Police Force.He soon rose up the ranks from working as a junior constable on the beat, then as one of the first Arab-Australian undercover cops, to becoming one of the most senior police officers in Australia.While undercover, Nick tracked a fugitive with a hair transplant, bought hemp oil and heroin at the Sydney Hilton, and was hired as a hit man by a spurned lover.He then had stints as the head of the homicide squad, the gangs squad and led some of NSW's biggest criminal investigations as Deputy Police Commissioner. Nick's work also took him to Iraq to rebuild the police force after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.Since leaving the NSW Police, Nick has continued his work in international law enforcement.This episode of Conversations explores crime, gangs, Egypt, migration, the Arab world, Syria, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, policing, law enforcement, corruption, inquiry, undercover cops, films, Batman, Northern Territory, NT Police Commissioner, Michael Murphy.Behind the Badge is published by Angus and Robertson.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.

Football tragic Andy Paschalidis was in his 50s when a dear friend and fellow player died during an over-35s soccer game. The tragedy inspired him to begin a whole new story for himself, and the sport (R)Andy grew up in Sydney's Balmain when it was a working-class suburb, full of migrant families. His parents had arrived in Australia from Greece a few years before, seeking a different life.Andy grew up to be one of the first Greek-Australian sports broadcasters on TV and radio on SBS and 2GB, and he never lost his zeal for football.When he was in his early 50s, Andy joined an ordinary weekend over-35s football game as he did each weekend.His friend and fellow player Matt Richardson had a heart attack on the pitch that day and died. He was just 42 years old. Then Andy discovered another friend had recently seen his teammate die exactly the same way. He decided to take six months off work to find a way to reduce the number of deaths in Australian amateur football. Since then Heartbeat of Football has saved many lives.This episode of Conversations explores grief, mateship, masculinity, male health, health and wellbeing, heart attacks, heart disease, cardiac arrest, signs of heart attack, exercise, football, FIFA, soccer, senior sports, older sports, amateur sports, deaths on the field, health, safety, migration, migrant Australians, first generation Australians, post-war migration, Sydney.When Andy's conversation with Richard first went to air, a listener named Kevin Whitby realised he was having a heart attack. Minutes later, he presented himself to the emergency department at Wollongong Hospital, where medical staff confirmed he needed immediate treatment.Since we last spoke with Andy, last year in Sydney alone, six footballers (the youngest of which was 13 years old) have been saved in the midst of on-field cardiac incidents by the defibrillators provided by Andy's charity.Learn more about the work of Heartbeat of Football.

Tim Winton, an acclaimed Australian writer famed for novels like 'Cloudstreet', shares insights from his latest work, 'Juice', depicting a dystopian future shaped by climate change. He discusses the harrowing realities of survival in a scorching world, including a gripping hostage scenario that explores human resilience. Winton reflects on the urgency of addressing climate issues, emphasizing the profound connections between art, politics, and the environment. The conversation also touches on the dangers of coral bleaching and the moral responsibilities of storytelling in times of crisis.

The Polish-French physicist and chemist is famous for discovering radium, but Marie Curie was more than her accomplishments. From 'the flying university' to great loves and losses, Dava Sobel investigates her extraordinary life.Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, and the first person to win a second Nobel Prize. But alongside her discovery of radioactivity, Marie’s life was marked by her fierce love for husband Pierre, a scandalous affair following his death, and feats of heroism during the First World War. Dava Sobel is one of the world's best loved science writers, who has written about revolutionary innovators from an 18th century clockmaker who changed marine navigation forever to Copernicus, Galileo's daughter.Now, Dava explores the extraordinary and surprising life of Marie Curie.This episode of Conversations touches on epic stories, origin stories, weird science, physics, chemistry, women in STEM, female scientists, family dynamics, grief, sudden death, modern history, human innovation, technology, military technology, medical technology, medical advancements, radium, polonium, the elements, Pierre Curie, University of Paris, academia, war.Dava Sobel's book about Marie Curie is called The Elements of Marie Curie: how the glow of radium lit a path for women in science, and is published by Harper Collins.This episode of Conversations was recorded in front of a live audience at Adelaide Writers' Week.

Would you want to live for longer? Forever? Have your mind preserved and uploaded into something non-human? And is it even possible? Neuroscientist Dr Ariel Zeleznikow explores challenging ideas about life and death.From adding a few decades onto a life span, to suspending the aging process altogether, and more radically, uploading a preserved brain and consciousness into an entirely different physical structure, Ariel's research is at the cutting edge of neuroscience.These seem like strange ideas, scientifically and morally, but Ariel says that with the advent of new techniques of brain preservation and the recent successful attempts at mapping consciousness, we could be looking at drastically longer lives in the future.This episode of Conversations explores weird science, epic stories, brain preservation, the aging process, how to stop ageing, getting older, brains, minds, souls, humanity, morality, lifespan, cancer, brain disease, Walt Disney, cryogenic freezing, genomes, biology, neurology, philosophy, ethics.The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death is published by Penguin.