PODCAST · society
Conversations: Art & Passions
by ABC
From the screen, the stage and the kitchen, the greatest voices on creativity, art and following their passions sit down for a Conversation with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski. Guests include musician Nick Cave, Hollywood's Jane Fonda and Masterchef's Poh Ling Yeow. In this collection of episodes, we’ve reached back into the rich archive and curated a selection of episodes where our guests speak about lived experiences and in the worlds of Art, Music, Cooking, Acting, Celebrity, following your dreams, overcoming self-doubt, imposter syndrome and critics etc. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversationspodcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowskigo 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.
Episodes
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Remembering Angry Anderson: rock n' roll animal and incurable romantic
Iconic Australian musician, actor, youth advocate and charity ambassador Angry Anderson has died at the age of 79. Angry spent 50 years in the music industry with his legendary rock band, Rose Tattoo, and the band was due to return to the stage this month for another Australian tour. But Angry…
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My dad Jim Henson, the creative genius behind 'The Muppets'
Growing up Lisa Henson and her siblings spent a lot of time in their father's workshop and studio, watching puppets get drawn, sculpted and brought to life. Jim Henson first started messing around with puppets as a teenager, and not long afterwards he began collaborating with his wife Jane....
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Comedian Urzila Carlson regrets nothing
Urzila Carlson grew up in South Africa. Her father threatened the family with a gun when she was 6, and he walked out on the family soon afterwards. Urzila's mum, who she describes as a 'warrior woman', raised Urzila and her sister. When she was in primary school, one of Urzila's teachers taught...
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Louise Adler on why she questions everything
Louise Adler has been one of the biggest and most controversial names in Australian publishing for decades. This is the story of how she fell in love with the world of books.An asthmatic child, she spent most of Melbourne’s winters in bed with nothing else to do but read novels. But it wasn't...
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Richard Flanagan on belonging in books and in Australia
For writer Richard Flanagan, the political belief that white Australians do not belong in this land is wrong and it's damaging any progress we might hope to make as a collective people. Richard has spent the last 30 years writing award-winning pieces of fiction and non-fiction, tackling the…
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Growing the goodness of the world—Hannah Moloney on why we garden
Gardening Australia's Hannah Moloney on the heartwarming and heartbreaking reasons humans continue to lovingly tend to their gardens — for healing, beauty and joy. For thousands of years, tending to a garden or a small farm meant human survival. But now, with massive commercial farms, genetically...
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Remembering Sam Neill, the shy boy from Dunedin who became a movie star
The much-loved actor Sam Neill had an unusual path into acting. Raised in New Zealand as a shy boy with a stutter named Nigel, he was 30 when he got his big break (R) Sam, who has died at the age of 78, was an acclaimed actor, a winemaker, an author, a cancer survivor and a Dad to four children.…
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From party trick to pop star — meet Molly Lewis, professional whistler
Molly's niche career began over a decade ago when she entered a whistling competition on a whim and she now performs all over the world. Her music sits somewhere between birdsong and the soundtrack to a film noir. Born in Sydney, Molly moved to Hollywood as a baby before returning to Australia…
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Hip Hop, home, and humanity—'trials' on reckoning with his origin story
Dan Rankine (aka 'trials') was the only little Aboriginal boy living in his rural Welsh village when he woke up shaking from a nightmare. That's when he and his mother knew they needed to go home to Adelaide. Dan is now one of Australia's most respected hip hop producers, writers and rappers.…
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Luke Bateman on surviving a gambling addiction and the magic of his mum’s love
The former Canberra Raiders player on hiding his fantasy reading habits as a kid in Western Queensland, the joy of doing hard things, and how books brought him back from the brink. Warning: Discussion of suicide. Luke was a sensitive kid, growing up on a cattle station in Western Queensland. He...
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The secret obsession of a Supreme Court Justice
For 45 years, George Palmer harboured a secret. He spent every spare moment composing classical music, and then shoving his scores in his bottom drawer. Until one day, almost by pure chance, that music saw the light of day. As a young man, George had dreams of becoming a renowned classical music...
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Sandi Toksvig's bright side
The Danish-British author, broadcaster and comedian recalls her unusual early life with glee, including how she came to be holding the hand of Neil Armstrong’s assistant at NASA’s headquarters on July 20, 1969. (R) Sandi’s interest in the world was stoked from a young age by her father, Claus…
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Teaching Nina Simone how to love me: a daughter's story
Singer Lisa Simone is the only person in the world who can call Nina Simone 'mommy'. Lisa was the beneficiary of Nina's incredible talent and her affection, but she was also at the mercy of her mother's erratic moods. Lisa is the only child of the legendary singer, songwriter, and civil rights...
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Actor and Hollywood It Girl Ione Skye on surrendering her Rock 'n' Roll past and forgiving herself
The Gen X actor on making peace with her absent father, the ghosts of her Hollywood past and nursing Anthony Kiedis through his drug addiction while she was still a teenager — a relationship she shudders at today. The 1990s It girl was named for the Scottish island where she was conceived, before...
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Ghost stories and executions in Iceland — when Hannah Kent and Agnes Magnusdottir became entwined
When writer Hannah Kent first visited Iceland in 2003, she came across a gothic true story about Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman hanged in Iceland. That story would change her life. Hannah's arrival to the Nordic island as an exchange student in 2003 was a difficult one. On her first night in...
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From Manila to Sydney to the Archibald Prize — Artist Loribelle on finding family and love
The artist Loribelle Spirovski on her unusual childhood in the Philippines, meeting her father for the first time at 7 years old, and making her way as one of Australia's most exciting young painters. Loribelle Spirovski grew up in the Philippines, with her mum and her extended Filipino family.…
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The life-changing power of a choir - From Guyanese activist forming an Aboriginal Women’s choir
Song propelled Morris Stuart from his early life shepherding sheep in British Guyana to an unlikely love story in London. In his retirement, he found himself shaping a choir of Central Australian Aboriginal women, who had been breathing life into 138-year-old Lutheran hymns. Morris Stuart met his...
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From petty criminal to portrait artist – Vincent Fantauzzo's life was saved by love and painting
When artist Vincent Fantauzzo was a boy he was a street-fighting petty criminal with dyslexia and a blazing talent for drawing. He escaped jail time, and grew up to become one of Australia's most well-known portrait artists. VIncent Fantauzzo is one of Australia's most successful portrait…
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Singing for her life: Camille O'Sullivan on Ireland and her dearly departed friends
It took a catastrophic car accident for the singer and actress to leave a decorated career in architecture and focus on her artistic ambitions, including a tribute show to her friends Sinead O'Connor, and Shane MacGowan of The Pogues. Irish-French singer and performer Camille O’Sullivan grew up…
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Singing as 'sweet relief' — Meg Washington on stuttering, spirituality and song
The musician reflects on the epic evolution of her singing from practical childhood speech therapy to sacred musical fluency. Meg Washington was born in a musical home in Port Moresby, where her parents had met as Australian expats. Meg and her sister spent a lot of their time watching classic...
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Raising kids differently and being generous with love
From Wollongong to London, via Alice Springs, this is writer Nikki Gemmell on her deeply romantic life, and how she defied expectations to become a famous author. Writer Nikki Gemmell grew up the daughter of a coal miner who thought writers were a burden on society, while her mum taught Nikki…
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How not to be a d***head with country music singer Kasey Chambers
The country music star remembers a childhood spent roaming the Nullarbor Plain, and the number one lesson she learned from her father. Kasey Chambers started singing around the campfire as a little girl. She and her family spent much of the year camping on the Nullarbor Plain, where her dad would...
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A life spent making — ‘Mr Millimetre’s’ memories with master maker Jeffrey Broadfield
Jeffrey Broadfield has made building his life. It has taken him around the world, and given him a place to belong. Jeffrey Broadfield is a master maker who builds houses to his clients’ wishes and quirks, using carpentry to turn recycled Australian hardwood into dream homes. It’s a craft Jeffrey...
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Words of love — writing stories of Aboriginal land
Author and professor Anita Heiss on her parents' story of romance, and how she brings true history alive in her work. Anita Heiss is a Wiradjuri woman, an author of many books and Professor of Communications at The University of Queensland. She has described herself as a “concrete Koori with...
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Sketchbooks, ghosts and a lost sister with Artist Michael Kelly
Artist Michael Kelly's younger sister was born with intellectual disabilities in the 1950s, and went into care. The family lost touch with her until Michael decided it was time to find her again. Michael Kelly has been an artist all his life. When he was a young boy living in Brisbane, his…
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Bindi — Dinner with Marlon Brando, didgeridoo at the Taj Mahal and always looking forward
When his elders named him Bindi, David Hudson had no idea his future would involve performing with his didgeridoo at the Taj Mahal, or a role in a film starring Marlin Brando (Content warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners: this episode contains the name of someone who has...
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Surviving Pinochet, living for art
Paula Quintela was seven years old when she witnessed Augusto Pinochet’s coup d’etat in Chile. She broke up the darkness by becoming her country's champion ocean swimmer and an artist
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Ben Lee: chutzpah mystic, Bondi rock prodigy, Noise Addict
Ben Lee was a teen rock prodigy by the time he was 14. He then began decades of making music, Hollywood fame, and a journey into alternative spirituality, including the world of ayahuasca Ben Lee grew up in Bondi in the 1980s when it was a place of bikie gangs, Yiddish-speaking grandmas and…
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Writer Bonnie Garmus on rejection, writing and success in your 60s
When Bonnie Garmus tried to sell her first novel, it was rejected 98 times. Then at 66, she wrote a novel called Lessons in Chemistry, which sold four million copies around the world. Bonnie Garmus had wanted to be a novelist since she was five years old. Decades later, she was a copywriter, an...
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How Rafael Bonachela let his inner showgirl out with Kylie Minogue
Rafael Bonachela was born in the dying years of Franco’s Spain, into a patriarchal culture that didn’t appreciate little boys who wanted to dance. At the make or break moment of his choreography career, the last person Rafael expected to hear from was Australia’s pop princess — Kylie Minogue As…
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The creativity of language, storytelling and the great language recovery by Dr Ray Kelly Snr
When Ray Kelly Snr's grandfather was asked to translate "telephone" into Gumbayngirr, he responded with “muuya barrigi”, or flying breath (CW: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners please be advised this program contains discussion of people who have died. Please take care when…
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Oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros' love for Egyptian movies
The oud virtuoso reflects on his path to the instrument, via a stamp collection and an Egyptian movie star When Joseph was 10, his dad swapped an iron and $100 for a second-hand oud at Sydney's Glebe markets. The oud is a traditional middle eastern instrument – the ancestor of the modern guitar....
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How Stephen sang himself to life
From homeless teen to operatic stardom: how a job at the David Jones food hall changed the trajectory of Stephen Smith's life
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The chef who changed the world: Josh Niland
Josh Niland on his mission to cook fish eyes, fish liver, and fish sperm to help revolutionise how we cook and eat fish Chef Josh Niland is devoted to changing ideas about how we cook and eat fish in the western world. He believes that rather than eating just the fillet, we should aim to eat the...
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Robyn Davidson, wandering spirit
Robyn Davidson on her adventures high in the Himalayas, her love affair with an Indian prince, and her late in life reckoning with her own story (CW: mentions suicide)
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David Rankin: Outback teaching, Gymea, Art and Lily
Artist David Rankin grew up as the son of a bootmaker in suburban Sydney. He became an outback teacher, then a a painter, before meeting the great love of his life, the writer Lily Brett To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the...
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Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama on surviving conversion therapy and becoming a peace negotiator
Pádraig Ó Tuama survived conversion therapy and exorcism as a young gay man in a church in Ireland, then became a leading peace negotiator and a poet. Pádraig Ó Tuama grew up in the South of Ireland, and spent a long time not knowing quite where he fit in. He loved poetry, and prayer and talking…
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Amar Singh's love for faith, family and country
Amar Singh's sense of belonging to Australia has only grown since he leant into his Sikh faith, growing out his beard and his hair, wearing a turban and committing himself to the service of his entire community
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Vivacious conductor and musician Umberto Clerici
The new chief conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, on the chair of spikes that accompanied his early musical career, and why he doesn't tone down his Italianness in Australia. During his Suzuki lessons in Turin, Italy, Umberto Clerici was sitting up straight on a chair full of spikes,...
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Dave Gleeson needs a damn good lie down
Dave Gleeson is known for his blistering performances in The Screaming Jets and The Angels, but he grew up singing at Mass in Cardiff, with a mum who opened their home to hundreds of foster children
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Nick Cave and the bruises of experience
Nick Cave on how living through addiction, love and unthinkable loss has changed his inner life
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Nicholas Hammond — from The Sound of Music to Cinderella
The stage and screen actor looks back at his mother's magical influence on his childhood imagination, and his life in character
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Raising seven classical musicians: the Kanneh-Masons
Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason on what it takes to keep up with her seven children — all of them gifted classical musicians. Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason is a former English academic and the mother of seven extraordinary children. All of them are gifted classical musicians. Her eldest daughter, Isata wrote and...
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Cook Maggie Beer: from Bankstown to finding her purpose in the Barossa
Maggie Beer started her working life at the age of 14 in a chenille bedspread factory. Two decades later, in a pheasant farm in the Barossa Valley, she found her dream job Legendary cook, author food producer and educator Maggie Beer grew up in Lakemba in South-West Sydney, and got her first job...
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Teddy Tahu Rhodes and the letter that changed his life
He's one of the world's most acclaimed opera stars, but Teddy Tahu Rhodes did everything he could, for a very long time, to avoid his destiny on stage
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Lindy Lee and the only game in town
As a Chinese-Australian girl growing up in the era of the White Australia Policy, artist Lindy Lee always felt that she didn't belong. When she began studying Zen Buddhism, some big shifts began to happen in her life, and her art
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The brave lives of Charmian and Neen: Memoir writer Nadia Wheatley
Nadia Wheatley with the stories of two women ahead of their time: the writer Charmian Clift and her own mother Nina Watkin.Two decades ago, Nadia published her acclaimed biography of the late Australian writer Charmian Clift. Charmian is best known for her memoirs Peel Me A Lotus and Mermaid...
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Rock and Dave Grohl
Stories from Dave Grohl about his life in music, including how he went from being "that guy from Nirvana” to a superstar rock star fronting the Foo Fighters
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Jenny Kee's incandescent life
Designer Jenny Kee with the story of her wild and creative life, including how she and Linda Jackson began a movement which changed Australian fashion (CW: discretion required. Drug references, suicide and content that might be upsetting)
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Surviving two volcanoes — Singer Ngaiire's story
When an eruption began in 1994 in Papua New Guinea, the last thing singer-songwriter Ngaiire expected was a second volcano to begin spewing ash. Tuning in to the mystery and majesty of PNG has become a lifelong project (CW: Some listeners may find parts of this conversation upsetting. Please use...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
From the screen, the stage and the kitchen, the greatest voices on creativity, art and following their passions sit down for a Conversation with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski. Guests include musician Nick Cave, Hollywood's Jane Fonda and Masterchef's Poh Ling Yeow. In this collection of episodes, we’ve reached back into the rich archive and curated a selection of episodes where our guests speak about lived experiences and in the worlds of Art, Music, Cooking, Acting, Celebrity, following your dreams, overcoming self-doubt, imposter syndrome and critics etc. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversationspodcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowskigo 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.
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ABC
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Conversations: Art & Passions have?
Conversations: Art & Passions currently has 50 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Conversations: Art & Passions about?
From the screen, the stage and the kitchen, the greatest voices on creativity, art and following their passions sit down for a Conversation with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski. Guests include musician Nick Cave, Hollywood's Jane Fonda and Masterchef's Poh Ling Yeow. In this collection of...
How often does Conversations: Art & Passions release new episodes?
Conversations: Art & Passions has 50 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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You can listen to Conversations: Art & Passions on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
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Conversations: Art & Passions is created and hosted by ABC.
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