Paul is a musician, author and performer best known for his comedic alter-ego, Flacco. In recent years he's joined an eclectic band of people who ring the bells at his local church tower in inner Sydney (R)

Paul is a musician, author and performer best known for his comedic alter-ego, Flacco.

In recent years he's joined an eclectic band of people who ring the bells together at their local church tower in inner Sydney.

Every week Paul and his fellow bellringers climb high into the tower where they stand in a circle and create a beautiful noise that ripples across the city.

He's also been working as a hospital volunteer, listening to and writing down the stories of people at the end of their lives, after his own brush with mortality.

This episode of Conversations touches on comedy, death and dying, caring, being a carer, cancer, palliative care, biography, volunteering, bell ringing, churches, ringing bells and personal stories.

The renowned physician discusses the role of trauma in our lives, showing up as addiction, chronic disease and mental illness — and how recognising his own led to true healing.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversation 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.

Dr Gabor Maté was born in Budapest to a Jewish family, just before Nazi tanks rolled into the city.

His mother risked handing him to a stranger on the street to try and get him to safety.

Many years later, after establishing himself as a successful physician in Canada, Gabor looked at the problems in his work and marriage and wondered if they were linked to that early trauma.

He uses his own experiences as the test case for the effects of trauma on the body and is now internationally renowned for arguing that trauma casts a long shadow in our lives, showing up in addiction, ADHD, chronic disease and mental illness.

Gabor argues that realising the impact of trauma of all kinds allows for real healing — as has happened in his own life.

Dr Gabor Maté's new book written with Daniel Maté is called The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture and is published by Penguin Random House.

This episode of Conversations deals with trauma, early childhood trauma, mental illness, addiction, ADHD, chronic illness, epic life stories, origin stories, healing, autoimmune disease, and therapy.

When Nadia Mahjouri travelled to Marrakech with her four-month-old baby to find her long lost father, she also underwent the process of matrescence — becoming a new version of herself as a mother.

Nadia Mahjouri is a Moroccan-Australian author and counsellor.

Growing up in Launceston, Tasmania, Nadia didn’t know anyone else who had her height, dark skin and curly hair.

She knew her father was Moroccan, but that was the extent of the information she had about him. 

When she had her first baby at 21, Nadia decided to go to Morocco to try to find him. 

All she had was her family name, a photo of her parents on their wedding day, and the name of a suburb in Marrakech.

Nadia's journey to Morocco intersected with the process of inhabiting a new role in her life — mother.

Nadia's book Half Truth is published by Penguin Random House.

This episode of Conversations focuses on family dynamics, epic life story, grief, fatherlessness, matrescence, motherhood, personal stories, origin stories, ancestry, Morocco, Tasmania and becoming a mum.

Nadia's book Half Truth is published by Penguin Random House.

Two of the most important men to Gus Worland departed his life in shocking and unexpected ways. Gus' grief led him to dig deeper into what it means to be a strong man and re-frame vulnerability as something powerful.

TV and radio host Gus Worland grew up with some deeply rooted ideas about what it meant to be a man and a good bloke.

When Gus was just 10 years old, his father left the family home for reasons Gus didn't understand or even know about until many years later.

Then, when Gus was an adult, the role model who had filled the gap left by his father also disappeared.

All the unresolved grief he felt prompted Gus to almost spontaneously open up one morning on his radio program on Triple M.

What began as an impulsive moment of vulnerability turned into a national conversation, and led Gus to dig deeper into his own understanding of what it means to be a strong man.

Content warning: this episode of Conversations discusses suicide and mental health issues.

If you or anyone you know needs help there is always someone available at:

• Lifeline on 13 11 14
• Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
• MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978

This episode of Conversations explores sexuality, fatherhood, parenting, love, homosexuality, male suicide epidemic, masculinity, vulnerability, honesty, origin stories, opening up, seeking help, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideations, speaking up, mateship, friendship, the Grill Team, mental fitness, coming out stories.

Further information

You can learn more about Gus' work in suicide prevention at the Gotcha4Life Foundation here.

Boys Do Cry 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.

Brigitte Muir's dream to climb the seven highest mountains on each of the seven continents took much longer and cost her more than she expected, but she also discovered more about herself than she could have imagined (R)

Brigitte Muir fell in love with the outdoors and adventure as a teenager in Belgium.

Initially she was exhilarated by going caving, deep in the earth, and then rock-climbing, until she made her way closer and closer to the heavens and became a mountaineer.

In her thirties Brigitte became fixated on a big dream — to climb the seven highest mountains on each of the seven continents.

To achieve what she set out to do, she pushed her mind and her body to their limits, and was even left for dead near the summit of Mount Everest.

Brigitte lost loved ones along the way, but also found some unexpected truths about herself.

This episode of Conversations explores epic adventures, explorers, expeditions, extreme conditions, the Himalayas, Nepal, the lives of Sherpas, grief, death, natural disasters, avalanches, nearth death experiences.

For poet David Whyte, the power of poetry lies in its unmatched ability to meditate and focus on what's right in front of us -- whether it's a mountain, a loved one, or our own reflection. He explains how one line of poetry is enough to change your life.

David grew up amongst the moors and fields of West Yorkshire, with an English father and an Irish mother who had a gift for lyricism and language.

He started writing poems at just seven years old, but it wasn't until he was working as a guide in the Galapagos Islands that David truly understood what poetry was and what it could do for us.

A near-death experience there prepared him for life as a poet by teaching him to pay attention to what lay right in front of him at any given time.

Since then, David has written hundreds of poems loved by the world, recited as often at weddings and funerals as they are on less auspicious occasions.

This episode of Conversations explores literature, language, prose, philosophy, epic stories, nature, marine biology, zoology, near death experiences, mortality, grief, love, origin stories, adventure, Charles Darwin, Ted Hughes, William Blake, Bronte sisters, Carl Jung

David has written and published several collections of poems and essays. His latest is Consolations II, published by Canongate.

When Dannielle Miller became a teacher, she was given the classes no one else could handle. She was given a whistle on her first day, to call for help. She didn’t need it — in fact, she had something in common with some of her students.

Dannielle Miller is the CEO of Enlighten Education and Director of Education for Women's Community Shelter.

As a young teacher, fresh from university, Dannielle was given a class of vulnerable students no other teacher could handle in a Western Sydney school.

Dannielle took to these students immediately, and found they responded to her with trust and affection.

Dannielle shared a certain understanding with her students —as a child, she saw domestic abuse and gaslighting in her house.

When she was very small, Dannielle was burned in a shocking attack.

The care she received following her burn has stayed with Dannielle and has informed her resilience, which she now uses to shepherd teenage girls and boys through one of life's most challenging times.

This episode of Conversations touches on epic life stories, origin stories, domestic violence, family violence, respectful relationships, teenage girls, teenage boys, teens, adolescence, burns, women's shelters.

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.

Further information

Learn more about Enlighten Education here.

Read about the Walk The Talk respectful relationships program for Women's Community Shelters here

Historian, Professor Clare Wright tells the story of a formative moment — before the Mabo decision — in Australia’s democracy that you may not have heard of.

Historian Clare Wright moved her family to Yirrkala in North-East Arnhem land in 2010. 

She became a part of the Yolngu community and kept in touch after the family returned to Melbourne.

Little by little, Clare learned about an extraordinary moment in Australian history, when Yolngu people used their artwork and their language, Yolngu Matha to petition the Federal government over a planned bauxite mine on their traditional lands.

The bark petitions were not sent in the traditional sense, pleading up to an authority, but rather asserted Yolngu custodianship of the land, and spoke as equal partners to the Australian government.

This episode of Conversations touches on Indigenous stories, Yolngu, Yirrkala, Australian democracy, the Bark Petitions, Naku Dharuk, Yolngu Matha, mining, the Australian Government, Menzies, Kim Beazley Snr.

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb on how growing up as the child of an Oklahoma preacher opened up a door to music, and inspired his songwriting (R)

Jimmy Webb grew up poor in Oklahoma, where his mother encouraged him to play the piano, revealing a prodigious musical talent.

After moving to Los Angeles, Jimmy wrote his first hit for the Fifth Dimension: Up, Up And Away.

Shortly after, he met Glen Campbell, who had already recorded Jimmy's song By the Time I Get to Phoenix.

Glen asked Jimmy to write a song especially for him - Wichita Lineman, which became another huge hit for Campbell.

Jimmy's many other famous songs, including MacArthur Park, Adios, and The Highwayman, have been recorded by artists including Frank Sinatra, Isaac Hayes, Barbra Streisand, Art Garfunkel and Donna Summer.

While he's best known as a songwriter, Jimmy is a renowned performer in his own right.

This episode of Conversations explores music history, rock music, Americana, Hollywood, the recording industry, the Mid-west, middle America, religion, origin stories, personal stories, celebrity culture, country music, rock n roll, songwriting, yacht rock.

When Linda Peek's mother Margaret died, Linda collected the scraps of handwritten notes strewn around the home and put together Margaret's remarkable tale of survival on Malta during WWII.

When Linda was growing up, Margaret, would tell her these remarkable stories from her wartime childhood -- stories of survival, friendship and tragedy.

Margaret had spent her most formative years on the island of Malta during World War Two.

The Mediterranean island was not only an idyllic paradise, it was also a British stronghold in a highly strategic position, and Adolf Hitler wanted it.

And so the Axis powers laid siege to Malta for more than two years, dropping thousands of bombs and trying to starve the island into submission.

Somehow, Malta survived, and so did Linda's mother.

This episode of Conversations explores Italy, Sicily, island life, modern history, the second world war, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Churchill, Royal Engineers, air raids, personal history, family history, family dynamics, life story, ancestry, travel.

Malta: A Childhood Under Siege is published by Woodlands Publishing.