Dr Charlotte Tottman is a clinical psychologist who specialises in supporting cancer patients. Both her parents had died young from different cancers, so Charlotte always joked she would be next. In 2018, it wasn't a joke anymore.

While on a beach holiday, Charlotte found a lump in her breast.

When she got her own cancer diagnosis, all of Charlotte’s skills as a psychologist went out the window.

She was scared, and angry, and determined to keep going rather than letting herself rest.

After falling in a heap, Charlotte has found her way back - helped by an ex-husband’s generosity, by her own penchant for swimming only in bikini bottoms and by needing to be there to have deeper conversations with her children as they became adults.

Further information

Charlotte's podcast, Upfront About Breast Cancer - What You Don't Know Until You Do, is produced with Breast Cancer Network Australia, and is available to stream at Apple Podcasts.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris, executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores breast cancer, cancer diagnosis, parenting, motherhood, mother-daughter relationships, divorce, finding love again, career change, double mastectomy, body image after cancer, psycho-oncology, helping people with cancer, how to talk to your children about cancer, mindfulness, swimming, mental health, shock, coping with illness, recovering from illness, major surgery, origin story.

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.

A few years ago, after a series of crisis after crisis after crisis, Allie Pepper thought she would have to give up high-altitude mountain climbing. This is how she got her groove back.

Record-breaking mountaineer, Allie Pepper, is currently in the middle of a project to become the first and fastest woman to climb the world’s 14 tallest mountains – those over 8000m – without the use of oxygen.

But just a few years ago, Allie nearly gave up climbing all together after a trifecta of mid-life crises pulled the rug out from under her.

Menopause, divorce, and a devastating death completely grounded Allie.

But when she got her groove back, Allie headed straight to the mountain. 

Further information

Allie recently made a documentary called Limitless Above the Clouds, which was filmed across the Himalayas. It will be available to stream worldwide between 20 - 27 September at this link.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris; executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores mid-life crisis, starting new, documentary, film, mountain climbing, Everest, Nepal, spiritual journey, India, Pakistan, travel, badass women, women in middle age, how to start again, separation, marriage, death of a father, self esteem, self worth, failing school, TAFE, alternative career pathways, Klára Kolouchová, Nanga Parbat, origin story, child of divorce, peri-menopause, hidden menopause symptoms, HRT, hormone therapy for menopause, chronic fatigue, depression, mental health, sweats.

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.

Doctors often use euphemisms to dance around the 'C' word. But for oncologist Dr Ranjana Srivastava, how you talk to someone with cancer goes beyond "shadows, lumps and lesions". It's all about compassion and clarity, even when honesty is difficult.

Ranjana Srivastava was a young doctor in regional Australia, accompanying her consultant on his late night rounds when she heard a patient say something that stopped Ranjana in her tracks.

It was in that moment that she finally knew what her speciality was going to be: oncology. 

Ranjana now works in Melbourne as an oncologist and an author.

She often writes about the need for clarity and compassion in doctor-patient conversations, to deliver good news, bad news and everything that falls between.

Ranjana had her own experience of being at the receiving end of devastating news when she was pregnant with twins.

Ranjana has carried the lesson she received from her own doctor forward, into her work as an oncologist, where bearing witness to the attitudes of her patients has changed the way she sees the world and has helped put her own life in perspective.

Further information

Ranjana's latest book, Every Word Matters, is published by Simon & Schuster.

She has published seven books about cancer and end of life care, including A Better Death, Tell Me the Truth, Dying for a Chat, So It's Cancer: Now What, and After Cancer: A Guide to Living Well.

Ranjana also writes a regular column for The Guardian, for which she won the Kennedy Award for Outstanding Columnist of The Year in 2025.

In 2017, Ranjana was awarded an Order of Australia medal for her work as an oncologist and in improving doctor-patient communication.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores cancer, oncology, the big C, cancerland, breast cancer, bowel cancer, how to survive cancer, incurable cancer, end of life care, palliative care, honest doctors, refusing treatment, chemotherapy, radiation, how to be honest with patients, doctor patient relationship, geriatric oncology, India, migration, motherhood, late term miscarriage, pregnancy, writing, books, origin story, journalism.

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.

Voyager frontman Danny Estrin on his unconventional path from heavy metal to law and on to the Eurovision grand final (R).

Danny Estrin is one of the few Australians who knows what it’s like to perform at Eurovision. 

As frontman for the progressive synth metal band, Voyager, Danny commanded the stage in the 2023 competition, wind machine and all. 

His musical education started early, on a piano gifted by his babushka and freighted from the Soviet Union to his childhood home in Hamburg.

After moving from Germany to Perth as a child, Danny turned to heavy metal as a way of finding belonging.

Danny is also an immigration lawyer, but by night he quite literally lets his hair down, swapping his suit and tie for a keytar and microphone.

Just months after Sarah first spoke to Danny in 2023, he received a stage four cancer diagnosis.

Voyager had to cancel all the shows they'd booked after their Eurovision performance, as Danny started treatment, supported by his wife and two girls.

While his cancer is terminal, Danny has been doing really well, defying everyone's expectations.

This year he even got the band back together, and when he's not undergoing treatment, Danny is back on stage with Voyager.

Further information

Originally broadcast in August, 2023.

Danny is currently working on a television show about people's love affairs with their cars.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Tamar Cranswick.

It explores music, heavy metal, Eurovision, migration stories, migration law, Russia, Germany, multiculturalism in Australia, classical music, how to have a career in music, family, fatherhood, love, marriage, father of daughters, cancer diagnosis, terminal cancer, cars, hot rods.

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.

Kathleen Folbigg was locked up in prison for decades, wrongly convicted of the deaths of her four children. For years, her childhood friend Tracy was the only person who believed in her innocence. Now they are telling the story of their herculean fight to overturn Kathleen's conviction. (CW: loss of children, descriptions of life in prison)

In 2003, Kathleen Folbigg was locked up in jail for decades, wrongly convicted of the deaths of her four children.

One of the only people who believed in her innocence was her childhood friend Tracy.

Together, they fought for her freedom for years before science and the law caught up with the case.

Kathleen was pardoned and exonerated in 2023. 

Now Kathleen and Tracy have written down their story of their 20-year battle for justice, and they are telling their story together for the first time.

Further information

Inside Out is published by Penguin 

Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day, on 13 11 14.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and presented by Sarah Kanowski. The Executive Producer was Nicola Harrison.

It explores crime, punishment, criminal conviction, wrongful conviction, a fight for justice, criminal pardon, exoneration, science, DNA, Meadows Law, life in prison, daily life behind bars, flaws in the justice system, internalised misogyny in the law, unsympathetic mothers, never giving up, rallying around scientists and philanthropists, science catching up to a criminal case, the use of DNA to free someone, how a wrongful conviction can be overturned, powerful women, impressive women, tenacity, guts, new beginnings, hope for the future, how to survive the loss of a child, grief after the death of a child, grief after the death of children, post traumatic growth, PTSD, having to be strong, activism, Newcastle, Muswellbrook, famous criminal cases, women who are disliked, how to overcome trauma, moving on, death threats, social media hate, online pile-ons, online cruelty, moving on after trauma, healing after trauma, reinvention, midlife reinvention, new chapter, starting a new chapter of life.

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.

When you call for an ambulance these days, chances are the officers inside will save a life. But 40 years ago, 80 per cent of Alan Playford's passengers would either die on the way to the hospital, or on its doorstep. This is how he, and his colleagues, changed the face of paramedicine for the better.

When Alan Playford first joined the New South Wales Ambulance Service in the 1970s, he would drive an ambulance on his own to all sorts of emergencies.

With little equipment, and no support, Alan would simply have to bundle people into the back of the wagon and race to the hospital, where lifesaving machines and skills could give them a chance.

In those early days, 80 per cent of Alan's patients would die either on the way to the hospital or on the doorstep.

Alan and a group of other ambulance officers and doctors knew they could do better and set about modernising paramedicine.

Under the leadership of Dr Bob Wright, they began innovative (and often terrifying) training to save more lives.

Ambulance officers from Newcastle, including Alan, were among the first to be trained in these new "advanced life support" skills.

So by the time the unprecedented Newcastle Earthqauke hit in 1989, Alan used his more than ten years' experience to save lives at the Newcastle Workers Club and on Beaumont Street.

Alan went on to makeover the now beloved Westpac Rescue Helicopter, and took his skills to places like Rwanda and East Timor.

He gained his nickname the 'shit magnet' for his habit of coincidentally being there to help out in emergencies, even when he's not on duty.

Further information

Through the Rubble is written by Alan Playford and Penny Keogh. It is published by Simon & Schuster.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris and presented by Richard Fidler, executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores modern history, medical history, Ambulance Union, paramedics, hospital St Vincents, the Hunter, Norm Duffy, natural disasters, lifesaving innovation, medical innovation, ambos, Australian history, war, Rwanda, genocide, civil war, rescue chopper.

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.

Ten years ago, Sydney-based artist HOSSEI took a step back from the art world to care for his sick mother. The more time they spent together, the more inspired HOSSEI became to create something especially for, about, and starring his mum.

HOSSEI is an artist with a flair for colour, quirk and unbridled joy.

But growing up the only son of a Persian-Australian family, it took years of hard work to convince his parents that being an artist was his destiny.

HOSSEI's mother, Nahid, came around first, getting her sewing machine out to help her son make his incredible costumes.

Then, it was HOSSEI's turn to support his mum, who needed a carer as her health deteriorated.

As they spent more and more time together, HOSSEI was inspired to write a musical for, about and starring his cheeky, charismatic mother.

The project is personal, but also has a political edge -- women in Iran aren't allowed to freely sing, dance or play music -- and so HOSSEI put his mother centre stage.

Further information

Recently, HOSSEI was commissioned by Parramatta Artist Studios to update their uniform in connection with Wear it Purple Day.

He has also been commissioned by the Sydney Opera House to develop a play space for the Centre for Creativity, which will be presented in January 2026.

HOSSEI is currently touring his show ESSSENSSSE through regional NSW, at Bathurst Regional Gallery, Yarrila Arts and Museum in Coffs Harbour and later to Wagga Wagga Art Gallery.

You can keep up to date with HOSSEI's exhibitions and news at his Instagram page.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris and presented by Richard Fidler, executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores visual arts, performing arts, becoming an artist, how to be an artist, carers, caring for parents, the sandwich generation, Persia, Iran, womens rights, feminism, musical theatre, experimental art, Western Sydney, Sydney College of the Arts, university, TAFE, tertiary education, what to do after high school, graduation, Istanbul, migration, war, escape, family dynamics, sisters, kidnapping.

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.

Music was always in Mike Chapman’s blood. As a boy, he collected bottles at the Brisbane showgrounds and traded them for money, which he saved to buy his first guitar. In his career he has penned electrifying numbers for The Sweet, The Knack and Pat Benatar.

In the history of '70s and '80s rock music, he is one of the least known, but most influential people.

As a young man, he moved to the UK, hoping to become a rock and roll star.

In the US, Mike produced Blondie's classic album, Parallel Lines, which sold more than 20 million copies.

Mike continues to write and produce music all over the world.

Further information

2025 update: a documentary about Mike is in production, called ‘Simply the Best: The Mike Chapman Story’.

Originally broadcast July 2011.

Songs edited for podcast.

• Sunday Girl performed by Blondie
• Hanging on the Telephone performed by Blondie
• Ballroom Blitz performed by The Sweet
• Stumblin' In performed by Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman
• My Sharona performed by The Knack

Standout story – Brenda Blethyn

Hear Richard’s conversation with Brenda Blethyn.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/stage-and-screen-actor-brenda-blethyn/7823938

We have many people to thank for their work and support over the years, including our colleagues at ABC Local Radio, Radio National, and Radio Australia.

Huge thanks to James O’Loughlin, Steve Cannane, Ann Jones, Ellen Fanning, David Bush, Cathy Van Extel, Scott Stephens, Steve Austin, Hamish Macdonald, Patrick Abboud, Wesley Enoch, Charlie King, Lisa Leong,  Sally Sara, Sana Qadar, Rudi Bremer, Tom Hall, Paul Penton, Robert Apolloni, Steve Fieldhouse, David White, Peter Scott, David Le May, Steven Tilley, Timothy Nicastri, Roi Huberman, Ellis Fitzpatrick, Emrys Cronin, Craig Tilmouth, Matt Hiley, Geoff Cavanagh, Michael Mason, Warwick Tiernan, James O’Brien, Judith Whelan, Jen Brennan, Cath Dwyer, Ben Latimer, Jess Radburn, Anthony Frangi, Justine Kelly, Monique Bowley, Eric George, Brigit Berger, Alison Barclay, Mateuse Pingol, Lilly Cooper, Jade Tully, Anna Priestland, Michaela Perske, Rebecca Levingston, Georgia Bateman, Renee Krosch, Joey Watson, Michael Dulaney, Jenna Koda, Cate Carrigan, Rebecca Armstrong, Rosa Ellen, Stef Collett, Nick King, Lisa Pellegrino, Sajarn Stow, Sinead Lee, Kim Lester, Evan Williams, Katie O’Neill, Eliza Kirsch, Tamar Cranswick, Rebecca McLaren, Michael Hartt, Fiona Purcell, Jen Leake, Michelle Ransom-Hughes, Alice Moldovan, Meggie Morris, Nicola Harrison, Kellie Riordan, Pam O’Brien and Carmel Rooney.  

You can read all about the Conversations origin story on the ABC News website.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-03/richard-fidler-reflects-on-20-years-of-conversations/105495784

This episode of Conversations touches on music, songwriting, simply the best, rock 'n' roll, albums, music producer, Nambour, Sunshine Coast, recording studios, Debbie Harry and top ten hit songs.

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.

Michael Ware witnessed some of the most violent battles in Baghdad; and was kidnapped three times.

He was one of the few Western journalists to live full-time in Iraq during the war, embedded with U.S. forces, insurgents, and terrorists. 

Leaving the war zone and resettling in Brisbane, Michael has had to 'consciously attempt to reclaim his life'.

Further information

Originally broadcast July 2012.

Content warning: This interview contains distressing content. Please listen with care.

Michael released a film in 2015, Only The Dead, based on more than 250 hours of his personal footage from the front lines. 

If you need help, you can call Open Arms, 24-hour crisis support for Veterans and their families on 1800 011 046

https://www.openarms.gov.au/

Or you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

https://www.lifeline.org.au/

This episode was produced by Michelle Ransom-Hughes. The Executive Producer was Pam O'Brien. Carmel Rooney is the Executive Producer of the 20th Anniversary Collection.

You can read all about the Conversations origin story on the ABC News website.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-03/richard-fidler-reflects-on-20-years-of-conversations/105495784

This episode of Conversations touches on Saddam Hussein, ISIS, IS, Islamic State, embedding, Australian Defence Force, ADF, Baghdad bad boys and Al-Qaida.

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.

After a dream job as a nanny in Notting Hill, a young Donna Duggan was first lured to Africa by the charms of Zanzibar. She soon fell deeply in love with a local man, Nas, though she could never have predicted the direction their life would take. 

Nas and Donna set up a safari company, on the premise they would give back to the country and community as their business prospered.

They had two children and built a life for their family and their wide network of Tanzanian employees.

Nas was making a short journey for work in 2017 when Donna received word his plane was no longer visible on radar.

Further information

First broadcast April 2019.

Read more about Donna's company Maasai Wanderings.

https://maasaiwanderings.com

This episode was produced by Michelle Ransom-Hughes. The Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.

You can read all about the Conversations origin story on the ABC News website.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-03/richard-fidler-reflects-on-20-years-of-conversations/105495784

This episode of Conversations touches on safari, widowhood, widow, two year UK working visa, gap year, death of a spouse, owning a business, running a business, husband and wife team, nurse volunteer, nursing, Brisbane and a plane crash.

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.