When Kate was 15, she gave birth to a baby boy at St Margaret's Home for Unwed Mothers.

Kooshyar was born into poverty in Tehran, but became a doctor and an awarded writer and translator.

Jennifer says everything that's happened in her career has been the result of a happy accident, rather than any careful planning on her part.

A collection of stories told at Conversations events in Tasmania

Joanna is a novelist, and a reviewer and essayist for The New York Times and other publications.

Tennis was a big part of Rod's life from as far back as he can remember, with a tennis court in his backyard for he and his brothers to play on whenever they could.

Vic Simms grew up on an Aboriginal mission in Sydney's La Perouse in the 1950s.

Karen is a general medical practitioner at a large metropolitan hospital. She's also an essayist and short-story writer.

Joan's stand against racial segregation also went against her own family

Robert is a journalist who loves digging through archives, looking for interesting and little-known life stories.