We'll be back in late January 2023 with plenty of exciting interviews booked in the calendar. 

But for now enjoy one of our most popular episodes from the past year. And remember to subscribe and share.

Ben Crowe has been mindset coach to the stars (including everyone from Ash Barty and Dylan Alcott, to Dustin Martin and Stephanie Gilmore) in a marketing and mentoring career spanning 25 years.

Good Weekend senior writer Melissa Fyfe recently profiled Crowe, examining his work counselling everyone from CEOs to students to soldiers, and now hosts an in-depth chat with the man himself.

In this episode, Crowe answers all the big questions: does a mindset coach need his own mindset coach? What is a ‘courage mantra’ - and how do you come up with one? What was Shane Warne really like? And what is the meaning of life?

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It’s been said that in longform journalism, there are no shortcuts.

To start, there’s the difficulty in gaining access to high profile subjects, then managing the public relations operatives keen to control any interaction. Next comes the balancing act between reporting and writing - between calling as many as 60 sources for a single story, then shaping that trove of raw material into 5000 words that command attention.

It’s a specialist craft, and in the final episode of Good Weekend Talks for 2022, Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland hosts a discussion with senior writers Jane Cadzow and Amanda Hooton. As veterans of the magazine, Cadzow and Hooton have mastered the process, developing that all important nose for the story, eye for detail and ear for a quote.

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Wil Anderson has pinballed around the ABC since the early 2000's, hosting multiple TV shows, including The Gruen Transfer and, most recently, Question Everything. He is one of Australia’s most accomplished TV talents, a stand-up comedian with 25 years under his belt and a Gold Logie nominee.

In this episode, he speaks with culture reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald, Thomas Mitchell, about everything from whether the ABC supports young performers, to what it's like living with osteoarthritis (“some days I can walk fine, some days I am Keyser Söze”), to his new book, I Am Not Fine, Thanks.

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Amy Taylor’s music has taken her all over the world – from the UK to the US, Coachella to Glastonbury – but she definitely wasn’t expecting it to deliver an audience with the Prime Minister. Yet that’s precisely what happened on Wednesday, when the often foul-mouthed and always feminist frontwoman for ascendant Melbourne pub-punk band Amyl and the Sniffers was flown to Canberra for a meeting with Anthony Albanese.

In this episode, Taylor chats to Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall, author of the magazine’s profile of Taylor this weekend. Their conversation explored everything from the structural sexism that’s rife within the industry to the uncomfortable conversations Taylor is more than comfortable having.

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Professor Andrew Pask is head of the TIGRR Lab (short for Thylacine Integrated Genomic Restoration Research) at the University of Melbourne, leading the charge to extract DNA from a Tasmanian tiger pelt sample, and genomes from thylacine relatives, to build a new genome for the de-extinction of the Tasmanian tiger - a possibility that’s closer to reality than science fiction.

Hosting the podcast conversation this week – about everything from conservation to venture capitalism – is national science reporter for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Liam Mannix.

Mannix was one of a host of experts from our newsrooms who helped compile our list of “52 New Makers of 2022” – an annual issue of the magazine that honours those who rose to prominence in the year in question, from a range of fields – including everything from sport to business to politics to fashion and science.

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A premiership medal has so far eluded Melbourne’s captain Daisy Pearce, widely regarded face of the AFLW, but the Demons star says her football journey has been “so much more than that”, as she’s found fulfilment outside the flag dream.

Last season, when Melbourne made the grand final for the first time in competition history, a narrative was quickly created around “Do it for Daisy”. Pearce speaks to sports reporter for The Age, Marnie Vinall, about the upcoming preliminary final against North Melbourne at Ikon Park on Saturday, where the Demons are the strong favourites to progress into another grand final.

“The beauty of AFLW footy is the amount of time you spend together, and the time and level that you can connect on," says Pearce. "You know, people that just challenge and inspire every day, in all walks of life, not just to get better at footy, but just to be better in general, has been awesome." 

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Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has compared his tough upbringing under his late father to that of Jelena Dokic and Andre Agassi but concedes it made him the coach he is today.

"He was hard on me but I look at it now and there was a method to his madness. That’s how fathers were," Arnold tells chief sports writer of the Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Webster in this episode. 

Arnold speaks about Australia's win against Peru earlier this year, family and upbringing, and preparations for the Socceroos World Cup campaign this November. 

You can read Andrew's full story here. 

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Warning: This episode contains mentions of sexual assault and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please contact Lifeline 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636.

If there is one common denominator to all sex cults, it’s the exploitation of women, with an estimated 40 per cent of female participants suffering sexual abuse, according to a new book called Cult Trip by New Zealand-based journalist Anke Richter. 

In this episode, Richter speaks with deputy editor Greg Callaghan about her 10-year-long investigations into sex cults, which began with her own participation in a festival of sexual freedom. “Cult followers are not what we think they’re like. They’re actually people like you and me who are out to improve ourselves,” explains Richter.

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A great interview has range and depth, humour and pathos, and who better to deliver that than Wendy Whiteley, former wife of the late artist Brett Whiteley and creator of Wendy’s Secret Garden in Sydney’s Lavender Bay, in discussion with her friend, journalist Ashleigh Wilson, who has just written a book – A year with Wendy: Conversations about Art – to be released next week by Text Publishing.

In this episode, Whiteley opens up about everything from the way great women are hidden within our histories (including her own), to the “sex, drugs and rock’n’roll" of 1960s London and New York, to the rubbish dump out the front of her home in Lavender Bay that she turned into a heritage-listed garden.

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Three baby elephant calves are due for delivery at Melbourne Zoo in November, December and January, and it sounds as though their arrival is well timed. 

Not only are the elephants due for transfer to an expansive new habitat in Werribee in 2024, but the zoo itself has adopted a new elephant-led approach to their care, in which the animals have greater autonomy - including everything from choosing when to offer up their ear for a blood test to when (and whether) they might enter a crate for transportation.

In an interview hosted by Good Weekend senior writer Melissa Fyfe - author of Baby Giants, our featured story this week - veteran zookeeper Lucy Truelson talks about everything from breeding in captivity to the splendour of working with a five tonne animal. “The key for us as zookeepers is delving into ‘How do these animals live in the wild?’" Truelson says. "Let’s learn about that, and then ask ‘How do we replicate that in their everyday care?’” 

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