Conversations

Latest Episodes:

Ben Folds' dream of lightning bugs Nov 17, 2020

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Ben on his musical career, the art of song writing and his brief stint as a one-man polka band in a German restaurant (R)

The animal that walked into my life — story collection Nov 16, 2020

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A cat, a hawk, a monkey, a crow and a lop-eared rabbit: animals who walked into the lives of five people leaving the humans to wonder, 'What am I to this creature?'

Alannah Hill — behind the mask Nov 13, 2020

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At sixteen, Alannah fled Tasmania and a traumatic past. In Melbourne, she began her wildly distinctive fashion label, which became an empire. Then the empire fell apart, and she began again (CW: Sexual Assault)

What happened to the USA? Nov 12, 2020

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Nick Bryant reports from New York for the BBC. It's a city he's loved since his first visit in the 1980s. Now when he looks at the USA he wonders if the nation's decline is irreversible

Tim Cope in the footsteps of Genghis Khan — Part Two Nov 11, 2020

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Tim continues his epic three-year adventure on horseback across the Eurasian Steppe, in this episode journeying from Kazakhstan all the way to Hungary (R)

Tim Cope in the footsteps of Genghis Khan — Part One Nov 10, 2020

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Tim's epic journey across the Eurasian Steppe on horseback, in the style of the Mongol nomads, took him three years (R)

Night of the midget subs — Sydney under attack Nov 09, 2020

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In 1942 three midget submarines armed with torpedoes made their way into Sydney Harbour to launch an attack on Allied warships. They were sent by the Imperial Japanese Navy

Sophie, the ballerina and the red balloon - Chasing the impossible dream and sacrificing ambition for love Nov 06, 2020

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Mary Li was a star ballerina when she fell in love with Li Cunxin, her dance partner at the Houston Ballet. When their daughter Sophie was born profoundly deaf, Mary walked away from dance for many years

Mary Li says she was the least likely girl to grow up to be a ballerina.

She grew up in a family of eight kids in the rough and tumble of the Queensland country town of Rockhampton.

But in a little timber hall, with cattle trains rolling by outside, Mary discovered a talent for dance.

That talent, and a huge amount of hard work and family support took her to the Royal Ballet School in London at sixteen.

She then became the principal dancer with the London Festival Ballet, then the Houston ballet.

There in Houston Mary fell in love with her dance partner Li Cunxin.

Li had also come a long way from his home in rural China, defecting to the U.S. as an adult and then becoming an internationally celebrated dancer.

In Houston Li and Mary married and had their first child, a beautiful daughter named Sophie.

But when Sophie was 16 months old their lives were turned upside down.

Mary became a household name when her husband Li Cunxin published his bestselling memoir, Mao's Last Dancer - but that book told only half the story. This conversation dives deeper.

Further information

Mary's Last Dance is published by Penguin

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.

Born to climb the Dawn Wall — Tommy Caldwell Nov 05, 2020

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Yosemite’s most punishing climb is the 3000ft sheer face of El Capitan mountain called the Dawn Wall. Tommy grew up exploring Yosemite and in 2015 he and his partner Kevin Jorgeson became the first to free-climb the wall

(R)

Cheat! Nov 04, 2020

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The most audacious sports cheats aren't always elite athletes. Titus O'Reily takes a look at the ignoble art of winning by breaking, or bending, the rules

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