Conversations

Encore: Tony Birch — op shop fever and old Fitzroy

Writer Tony Birch with tales of his Fitzroy childhood including his grandmother Alma's 'op shop fever', his love for pine cones and blankets, and the macabre holiday he lived through when he was 5 years old (R).Tony grew up in inner city Melbourne in the 1950s and '60s.His grandmother taught him to waste nothing. So Tony and his siblings would scour the streets for bottles, lead and copper to sell, and for wood from demolished houses to use for firewood.His grandmother even ran a sly grog shop on Sundays to make extra money.One day, however, Tony was sent to spend Christmas with a nice middle-class family in a leafy suburb.When they insisted he stay on with them, he began plotting his escape.Tony's short story collection, Dark As Last Night was published in 2021 by UQP.Tony's other books include Women and Children, published in 2023, and his latest book Pictures of You.This episode of Conversations explores Australian life, Melbourne, Thrift Shops, Saving, grandparents, frugal living, social history, social life in Australia, families, origin stories, books, writing, Australian literature, short stories, penny pinching.

The ordinary and extraordinary lives of women, artists and mothers

Writer Drusilla Modjeska has built a career exploring the extraordinary lives of pioneering women writers and artists, who have never stopped asking important questions about gender, freedom and expression.Drusilla was born in England right at the end of the Second World War.She was raised to be a well-behaved and self-effacing young woman, in a very conservative time in history.But Drusilla escaped this version of herself by marrying very young and moving to Papua New Guinea, and then to Australia.On the other side of the world, her eyes were opened to different ways of being, and Drusilla went on to build a big career exploring the lives of pioneering women writers and visual artists.In writing about the lives of women artists, Drusilla was eventually led to writing about her own mother, Poppy, whose creativity and independence were stymied by marriage and who was committed to a psychiatric institution when Drusilla was 12 years old.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.It explores surrealism, surrealist art, art of the Pacific, Claude Cahun, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Clara Westhoff, Rainer Maria Rilke, Marcel Moore, Gabriele Münter, Kandinsky, Lee Miller, Dora Maa, Picasso, painting, World War 2, boomers, conservatism, trad wives, feminism, manosphere, Louis Theroux, toxic masculinity, equal rights, misogyny, psychiatric treatment for women, institutionalised, women of world war 2, The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, the fany.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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Is America sliding into autocratic rule under Trump?

New York Times columnist and author M.Gessen on the slow strangulation of democracy, happening right now in Trump's America.M Gessen grew up in the Soviet Union and migrated to the US as a teenager before returning to Russia in the 90s to cover the country's brief attempt at democracy and then the slow slide back into autocratic rule under Vladimir Putin.M's insight into the mindset of the autocrat offers some clarity on why such leaders do the things they do and how they see the world.This Conversation was recorded at the Brisbane Powerhouse, as part of the Brisbane Writer's Festival.Further Information M Gessen is an author and New York Times columnist, their latest book is Surviving AutocracyThis episode of Conversations was produced by Alice Moldovan, Nicola Harrison is the Executive Producer.It covers US politics, President Donald Trump, democratic institutions, the Soviet Union, state terror, state tyranny, Vladimir Putin, journalism, protest, ICE, Minneapolis, autocratic rulers, power, dogma, mindset, democratic freedom, voting in elections, Hannah Arendt, Milan Kundera, mutual aid, organising.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.

Encore: Colin Hay's wild ride to fame with Men at Work, and the heartbreak in the aftermath

Colin's band, Men At Work, was one of the biggest acts of the 1980s. Their first album shot the band to international fame. Then quite quickly, everything unravelled, and Colin had to begin again (R)

What happens to kids when they can't go to school?

When Megan Gilmour's son was 10 years old, he spent nearly two years in isolation at the Sydney Children’s Hospital. The months he missed at school didn't just affect him academically. Megan, her daughter and her husband all relocated from Canberra to be with Darcy in Sydney as he underwent life-saving medical treatment, and lived at hospital.Over his many months in hospital, Darcy missed a lot of school. What worried Megan wasn’t just that he was falling behind academically, it was his loneliness and the way he was losing connection to his friends and his community.Over time Megan watched how Darcy’s sense of belonging vanished because he wasn’t physically at school.So along with two other mums she met through the Sydney Children’s Hospital, Megan decided to do something about it.Not just for the kids who are missing out of school because they are in hospital, but for the growing number of kids who are away from school for a whole host of reasons.Megan is the CEO and co-founder of Missing School, and she was the 2025 ACT Australian of the Year.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.It explores chronic illness, sick kids, school non attendance, school refusal, my kid doesn't want to go to school, young carers, neurodiverse children, autism, ADHD, AuDHD, learning difficulties, childhood cancer, blood disorders, lonely children, invisible siblings, parenting, motherhood, online learning, COVID, digital schooling, bone marrow transplant.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.