Conversations

Latest Episodes:

The psychopaths among us Oct 12, 2023

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Lawyer and author David Gillespie has been on a mission to understanding psychopaths after realising he might have worked with one

The chef who changed the world: Josh Niland Oct 11, 2023

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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 whole fish, as we do nose-to-tail with animals. At his restaurants he cooks with fish eyeballs, fish livers, fish heads, and milt (fish sperm).

A big part of Josh's philosophy is about making fishing more sustainable. He says fishers risk their lives every, so we're duty bound to use as much of the catch as we can.

Josh's approach is winning him acclaim around the world. At 30, he won an award which is considered the Oscars of food writing, the James Beard Award, for his first book, The Whole Fish Cookbook.

His passion has its roots in his childhood. At eight years old, Josh fell terribly ill, and during a long convalescence, realised exactly what he wanted to do when he grew up.

Today Josh has five restaurants of his own, including one in Singapore.

Further information

Fish Butchery is published by Hardie Grant

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.

David Marr's reckoning with his family's brutal past Oct 10, 2023

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David Marr with the story of his great-great-grandfather Reg Uhr, who led murderous expeditions with the Native Police during Queensland’s frontier wars CW: mentions the names of Aboriginal people who have died

Ancestors like aliens: clues from the Cambrian explosion Oct 09, 2023

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Diego Garcia-Bellido is a palaeontologist who specialises in soft-bodied fossils from hundreds of millions of years ago. These perfectly preserved eyes, guts and nervous systems provide a window into the beginning of our own family tree, and into life on Mars.

Robyn Davidson, wandering spirit Oct 06, 2023

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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)

Jessica Cottis — inside the colour of sound Oct 05, 2023

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Jessica is an orchestral conductor, organ virtuoso and also a synesthete who 'sees' colour in her mind's eye (R)

Silk, sex, secrets and spiders Oct 04, 2023

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James O'Hanlon digs deep into the secret world of spiders; complex and tiny lives most of us are either unaware or afraid of

From Antioch to Syracuse and Tyre Oct 03, 2023

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Historian Katherine Pangonis with stories from five cities of the ancient world, from their splendour in antiquity to their comparatively modest twilight

Confessions of a drama kid Oct 02, 2023

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Actor and writer Brendan Cowell with tender and funny tales from his boyhood as a child actor and a budding playwright (R)

Suzie Miller: finder of ways Sep 29, 2023

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Suzie Miller with stories from her free range St Kilda childhood, her drama-filled life as a lawyer, and the inspiration behind her play Prima Facie