Conversations: Art & Passions

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 that only success was worthy of love.

So Nikki went above and beyond to prove her beloved father wrong, and to get the attention of her mother through her achievements, publishing 20 books in the process, including the wildly successful The Bride Stripped Bare.

The mother of four children, Nikki has also been determined to live her own life and raise her own children very differently, being generous with her love and pride for her sons and daughter.

Content warning: Please take care when listening as this conversation mentions suicide.

This episode of Conversations explores romance, love, epic love, relationships, break-ups, divorce, menopause, peri-menopause, parenting, coal mining, the working class, education, books, writing, novels, children of divorce, adventure, fathers and daughters.

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.

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 hunt for foxes and rabbits.

Kasey and her brother Nash had a free range childhood, and went to sleep to the sound of their father's rifle as he worked through the night. 

Singing came naturally to Kasey, and she loved all the old country classics, as well as some Cyndi Lauper and Bruce Springsteen.

Kasey has spent her life making music and connecting with audiences. It’s what she believes she was put on the earth to do.

This episode of Conversations touches on motherhood, family, country music, Kasey Chambers, singing, songwriting, nature, childhood, parenting, co-parenting, divorce, re-partnering, gentle parenting, making music, recording music, guitar, banjo, mandolin, Slim Dusty, Tamworth Country Music Festival.

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.

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 says is dying.

He grew up in Griffith, NSW, where he learned to swim in the irrigation channel and entice next door’s chooks over into his house to play.

When he left school at 16, Jeffrey became interested in fitting and turning, but on the boring train ride to a factory job interview, a well-worn tie changed the course of his life.

This episode of Conversations covers bespoke, custom craftsmanship, an epic life story, families, travel, architecture, marriage, nature, theatre.

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.

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 Westfield dreaming.”

Many of Anita's books focus on great love stories, and the inspiration for these romances came from the enduring, devoted love she saw between her parents – the very Austrian “Joe-the-carpenter”, and Elsie, a proud Wiradjuri woman.

Anita’s latest book goes back to the 1800s, bringing to life the brutal frontier wars in Bathurst, when martial law was declared.

This episode of Conversations discusses First Nations Australians, interracial relationships, Indigenous culture, colonisation, colonialism, family, origin stories, love stories, Australian history, ancestry.

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 younger sister was born with intellectual disabilities. She was institutionalised and the family eventually lost contact with her.

That severed connection was a wound for the whole family, and followed Michael where he went.

Over the years he’s lived in family squats, stayed in a decommissioned mental asylum, and in a van.

Eventually he made his way to art school, where everything fell into place.

All this time, he’s kept meticulous sketchbooks as a way to keep track of his artwork, dreams, ideas and sketches of a changing world. And his path back to his sister.

Further information

Michael Kelly has an retrospective exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery in Double Bay, running from 7 August to 25 August.

You can also see a selection of Michael's sketchbooks in the State Library's Amaze Gallery, until 1 December 2024. Learn more about that exhibition here.

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.

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 died.)

Western Yalanji and Ewamian man David Bindi Hudson is a performing artist and musician.

His parents were born on Mona Mona mission, near Cairns.

David's mother didn't like being told what to do, and so in 1956 she walked off the mission with her three children, and made it 18km away to look for work at a local pub.

Her ingenuity led the family to Spring Creek Station, where David’s elders taught him traditional dance and named him Bindi, which means "always looking forward".

Since then, David has toured the world with his didgeridoo, playing to huge audiences in the Acropolis, the Taj Mahal and China's Forbidden City.

He also played a part in a disastrous Hollywood movie, which gave him the chance to bring Marlon Brando home to have dinner with his Mum.

Further information

Read more about David's autobiographical stage show, From Campfire to Stage Light.

Content warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners: this episode contains the name of someone who has died.

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.

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

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 tribes of kids living next to one of the world's most beautiful beaches. 

He was educated at a local Jewish school where he confounded his Rabbi by asking some surprising questions about Moses.

Ben was always a seeker, and even as a boy, he also possessed a whole lot of chutzpah.

At the age of 14 he saw Nirvana play at the Big Day Out. The next day he started his own band and two years later Ben was flying to America to support Sonic Youth.

This began a wild few decades of making music, Hollywood fame, and a lengthy exploration of alternative spirituality, including a time in an ashram in India, and many ceremonies with ayahuasca, a hallucinogen found in a vine in the Amazon.

After many years, Ben emerged with a crucial realisation about his life story.  He is now living back in Australia with his wife Ione and their teenage daughter.

Further information

Find out where to see Ben on his Australian tour

Ben and Ione Skye Lee have a podcast, Weirder Together

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.

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 open-water swimmer and a rower when she tried to sell her first novel.

After many rejections, she realised it would never be published.

One day Bonnie was at work when a male colleague took credit for one of her ideas. In a moment of anger, she then started writing a novel which would become Lessons in Chemistry.

Set in the 1950s and early '60s, it tells the story of Elizabeth Zott, a chemist and mother who hosts a cooking show that ends up teaching women about a lot more than food.

Bonnie was 66 years old when it was published.

The book has resonated with millions of readers around the world and inspired men and women to change their own lives.

Further information

Lessons in Chemistry 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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

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 the eldest of four brothers, his father expected him to be an example of academic achievement and bravado.

This hardline approach slowly drove his father away from the family, though when it came time to say goodbye, Rafael saw an unexpected side of him.

At the age of 17, when the wide world beckoned, Rafael left his home country without a backward glance, grasping with both hands the opportunity to become a professional dancer.

After a last ditch attempt at becoming a choreographer, he received an email from Kylie Minogue. And the rest is history.

Further information

momenta is Rafael's newest full length work for Sydney Dance Company. It premiers on May 28, 2024.

Watch Rafael's episode of Creative Types with Virginia Trioli here.

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.