Conversations

Historian Katja Hoyer was born in 1985, under the old regime of the GDR and grew up in the 1990s, watching many former East Germans struggle in the years after reunification.

Learning about the Nazi era was a big part of her education but Katja left school feeling unsatisfied about what she’d been taught about the period when the Nazis rose to power.

She knew about all the big political moments, but not much about the lives of ordinary Germans and how they responded to the dramatic changes that unfolded around all around them.

So Katja the historian traced the lives of residents in the town of Weimar from 1919 to 1939 to examine how a cultural hub of democracy transformed into a Nazi stronghold.Further information 

Weimar: Life of the Edge of Catastrophe is published by Penguin.

Katja's earlier book is Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990

Learn more about Katja Hoyer on her website

This episode of Conversations was produced by Jen Leake and the Executive Producer was Nicola Harrison.

It explores German history, the rise of the Nazis, Weimar, the Weimar Republic, Adolf Hitler, the Stasi, secret police, the Berlin Wall, Communism, Fascism, World War II, East Germany, the GDR, democracy, Jewish persecution, Buchenwald, concentration camps, Carl Weirich, Nazi era history, the rise of the Nazis.

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.

Journalist Hedley Thomas grew up knowing that his grandmother Gladys had vanished in the sea off Sydney in the 1950s. The mystery of what happened to Gladys helped to inspire his hit podcast 'The Teacher's Pet'.

Hedley has had a storied career in journalism which has seen him win many Walkley Awards and expose a lot of corruption and dodgy dealings.

But it has also placed Hedley and his family in harm's way. 

In 2002 Hedley and his wife Ruth were at their home when bullets were fired into their bedroom. The shooter was never found, and Hedley grappled with PTSD after the event.

A couple of decades later Hedley returned to a story which had stayed with him for years.

It was the about a woman named Lynette who had gone missing from her home in the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Hedley's podcast about her story became a massive hit. 

Five years after 'The Teacher's Pet' began, Lyn's former husband Chris Dawson was convicted of her murder. Despite his recent appeals, Dawson will spend the rest of his life in jail for Lynette's murder.

Recently, Hedley has started talking about the family secret which helped inspire the podcast when it first began.

Further information

Help and support is always available. Beyond Blue provides 24/7 support on mental health issues.

Hear Sarah's conversation with Lynette's daughter, Shanelle Dawson.

The episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison, the Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.

It explores family, journalism, domestic violence, police investigation, murder, The Teacher's Pet, true crime, true crime podcast, Lynette Dawson, Chris Dawson, Shanelle Dawson, PTSD, home invasion, secrets, prison, Northern Beachers of Sydney, mothers, grandmothers, Walkley awards, justice, cold case.

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.

Millie Robinson’s family had been through enough as it was before her devoted dad Jim Rogers received his diagnosis in 2021. Today they navigate the unknown together and stay in the moment to enjoy their tight-knit community.

Millie is a celebrant, mum and author living in Brisbane.

She also supports her dad, Jim, who has younger-onset Alzheimer’s. 

Millie started life in the UK, in a very tight-knit network of family and friends who wrapped their arms around Jim, Millie and her siblings when Millie’s mum died of cancer.

Jim became the dad and the mum of the house, and for years put himself last to care for his babies and make sure they were alright.

Then he fell in love with Tyler, and Millie gained a stepdad.

The family thought they’d used up their quota of shock for one lifetime, but when Jim was diagnosed in 2021, they rallied and continue to care for him with the same devotion he showed when they were kids.

Further information

Holding On To Happiness, written by Jim Rogers and Millie Robinson is published by Pan Macmillan.

Watch the 2025 Australian Story featuring Millie, Jim and their family.

This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan and the Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It covers caring for parents, Dementia Australia, living well with dementia, Hamish Macdonald, the sandwich generation, losing a mother, motherless mother, finding love again, going back into the closet, two dads, step parent, tight knit family, grandparent, Redditch, cottage, forget me not, Brisbane, moving to Australia, skin cancer, melonoma, mole, Canary Islands, celebrant, marrying, getting married, VW Beetle, high school sweetheart.

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.

British writer Ben Macintyre on the eerie history of Colditz Castle which the Germans used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II.

Since the Middle Ages, Colditz Castle has existed in some form, perched on the edge of a cliff in eastern Germany.

Colditz has served as a royal hunting lodge, a madhouse, and most famously as a prisoner of war camp during World War II.

It was said to be inescapable, but that didn't stop the English officers from trying to escape the nightmare of this gloomy fortress, and the clutches of the Germans.

Ben Macintyre tells the full story of Colditz and the men imprisoned there, who were as flawed as they were heroic legend.

Further Information

Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle is published by Penguin

This episode of Conversations explores history, World War 2, prisoners of war, Colditz Castle, Germany, allied soldiers, the officer class, escape, prison, solitary confinement, heroes, the middle ages, research, first hand accounts.

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.

Author Tess Woods had always dreamed of her big day, growing up watching her beloved Nana create in-demand bridal gowns. The stories of these dresses became a way for Tess to understand her family’s origins in North Africa, which she left in the late 1970s. (Warning: This episode references the loss of a child.)

Tess moved to Melbourne from Egypt when she was five years old.

At large family gatherings, Tess dreamed of a big, fat, Egyptian wedding with 250 guests, food for days, belly dancing — the works.

But after she became engaged to her sweet, mild-mannered Australian boyfriend Paul, Tess’ parents’ marriage imploded and she decided to elope to Fiji with a wedding party of just 11.

Tess’ cherished and feisty Nana made her wedding dress and her wedding underwear, and the nuptials were an unexpected hit.

Tess and Paul moved their young family to Perth to begin their own story, which would unfold with ambition, tragedy and religion.

Further information

The Cairo Bridal Shop is published by Penguin Random House.

This episode refers to the loss of a child. Please contact Red Nose on 1300 308 307 if you need support.

This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. The Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores migration, getting married, homemade wedding dresses, loss of a child, stillbirth, Japanese shrines, Kyoto, philosopher's walk, near death experience, collapsed lung, intubation, fear of death, religion, Coptic Christian, Catholic, lapsed Catholic, catholicism, church, Mass, Perth, physiotherapy, physiotherapist, historic fiction, divorce, family get togethers.

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.

Who are the Kennedys, really? And what has made the legacy of America's political dynasty so famous, divisive and enduring? 

The Kennedys are often described as the closest thing the United States has to a royal family, with fiercely competitive and divisive figures taking up space in American political and public life for generations.

Even now, the influence of the Kennedy family continues to persist with RFK Junior, who is serving as the U.S. secretary of health and human services.

There have been Kennedys who thrived with fame and power, and those who struggled greatly with that burden, with tragic consequences.

The sunniest images of this famous family come from when they gathered at their rambling seaside compound in Cape Cod in the summers.

One particular summer, in 1944, changed everything for the Kennedy clan, according to historian Leigh Straw, who is an internationally recognised expert on the Kennedy family and their legacy.

It was the final year of World War Two—Jack, the future president, had become a war hero but his health was ailing; his brothers Bobby and Teddy were there, but their eldest brother Joe Junior was in England, preparing to embark on his final wartime mission. Their sister Rosemary was out of the picture altogether, hidden away from public and never spoken of.

This was the year, Leigh says, when personal tragedies and public heroics began to shape the Kennedy legacy.

The Kennedys at Cape Cod, 1944: The Summer That Changed Everything is published by Bloomsbury.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggiei Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores American politics, the United States, family dynasties, Trump, federal elections, JFK, John F Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, RFK Jr, Covid, Rosemary Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, family trauma, mental health, intellectual disability, war, veterans, assassination, car crash, accidental death, grief, Hyannis Port, modern history, American history, who were the Kennedys, why are the Kennedys famous, Maria Shriver, nepotism, nepo babies, nepo baby, political elite, conspiracy theorists, vaccines, political scandals, Jacqui Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

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 Pauline McGrath's husband David was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he chose to use Voluntary Assisted Dying. Pauline supported him through the journey as he took the steps to end his life.A few years ago, Pauline came home from work and found the lights on and the dog already fed.

This was something which had never happened in her 30-year marriage to David, a director of paediatric medicine at Queensland Children's Hospital.

Straight away, Pauline asked David, "Who has died?"

Her beloved husband told her he had a brain tumour, and that voluntary assisted dying was going to be an option for Queenslanders in six months.

This moment began a heartbreaking but ultimately empowering path for David, Pauline and their family.

David's wish was for Pauline to speak openly about their family experience. So that's what she's been doing while grieving her husband, supporting her two daughters, and embarking on the next chapter of her own life.

Content warning: this episode of Conversations contains discussion of death and dying.

Further information

Help and support is always available. Call Lifeline on 131114 - they are available 24 hours a day.

Since Sarah spoke with Pauline in 2024, the family has welcomed a grandchild, baby Margot.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison.

It explores death, dying, brain tumour, cancer, medical treatment, medical diagnosis, family, paediatric medicine, marriage, love, children, voluntary assisted dying, medical autonomy, grief, advocacy, medical profession.

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.

Monday Morning Cooking Club's Merelyn Chalmers her family's story of survival, and piecing together hundreds of treasured family recipes from Jewish communities around the world, including her mother's top-secret yellow cake recipe.

Merelyn grew up tied to the apron strings of her mother, an Hungarian Jew who had survived Auschwitz and eventually ended up in Western Australia.

In Perth, she met a man who had his own remarkable World War Two survival story, after fleeing Poland and being conscripted into the Polish regiment of the Red Army.

For the couple, Perth became their Garden of Eden, where they raised Merelyn and her older brother in peace.

From her mother, Merelyn learnt how to make the perfect pastry in her pyjamas at midnight; how to fry schnitzel properly; and how to make a succulent roast for Shabbat. 

And from her father, Merelyn learnt how to appreciate both an Aussie barbecue of snags and steaks, as well as the acquired taste of Gefilte fish.

Years later, Merelyn would join a group of women who decided to raise money for charity by putting together a cookbook filled with treasured family recipes from Jewish communities in Australia and around the world.

As a member of the Monday Morning Cooking Club, Merelyn finally convinced her mother to share her secret recipe for yellow cake, a chiffon cake that had become famous in suburban Perth.

A Year of Jewish Cooking is published by Simon & Schuster.

You can find out more about the Monday Morning Cooking Club online.

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

It explores cooking, cookbooks, holiday cooking, Jewish cooking, stories of survival, origin stories, Bondi, Shabbat, Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Passover, Pesach, Hanukkah, family recipes, secret recipes, charity, books, writing, Shoah tapes, Holocaust, Auschwitz, refugees, migration, first generation Australians, Kosher kitchen, Judaism, religion, cultural identity, children of immigrants, Communism, Stalin, Hitler, Soviet Union, Spielberg.

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.

Author and classicist Daniel Mendelsohn was teaching a university class on Homer's The Odyssey, when his elderly father decided to enrol in it.Daniel became fascinated by the stories of the ancient world as a child and grew up to study the classics and then write books and essays to share his knowledge with the wider world.

Eventually he began teaching the Ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey, to first year university students at Bard College in New York State.

But when his elderly father Jay asked to sit in on the course, it led to a big change in their relationship.This episode was first broadcast in 2020

Further information

An Odyssey: A father, a Son, and an Epic is published by KnopfDaniel's latest book is The Odyssey: A New Translation 

This episode was first broadcast in 2020.

It explores the Ancient World, Homer, The Odyssey, the Classics, translation, poetry, writing, teaching, parents, family, fathers, students, New York State, memoir, Odysseus, hero, storytelling, siblings, Winnie the Pooh, emotions, love, books.

For writer Richard Flanagan, the political belief that white Australians do not belong in this land is wrong and it's damaging any progress we might hope to make as a collective people.

Richard has spent the last 30 years writing award-winning pieces of fiction and non-fiction, tackling the climate crisis, the meaning of art, free speech and the stubborn necessity of hope.

Threaded through all of Richard's writing is a contempt for power and its acolytes, and a great tenderness for human struggle and goodness.

Richard says that while writing novels is an introspective process, and journalistic writing is very much outward-looking, they share the same fundamental purpose - telling the truth.

His latest book is a collection of speeches and opinion pieces that assembled in order to contextualise and define the rest of his oeuvre as fiercely Australian.

Because Richard says the story Australia tells itself as a nation must change, to include all of us as profoundly belonging to its land and history.

For Richard, the political belief that white Australians do not belong in this land is wrong and it's damaging any progress we might hope to make as a collective people.

Heresies is published by Penguin.

This episode of Conversations was recorded live at the Byron Writers Festival in August 2026. It was produced by Jennifer Leake. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores white history, black history, Australian history, Indigenous, non-Indigenous, Aboriginal Australia, writing, books, politics, climate crisis, black arm band view of history, colonialism, settlers, invasion, national identity, bushfires, natural disasters, early onset dementia, incorrect medical diagnosis, monoculture, multiculturalism, One Nation, fedpols, federal politics, Pauline Hanson, First Nations identity, the Voice Referendum.

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.