The Drawing Room

The world of ballet tends to be presented as glamorous and elite: sumptuous costumes on stage and tuxedos in the audience.

But creating that elite atmosphere comes with a cost. Ticket prices for major productions are seen as out reach for many, and money also has an impact on who gets to persue ballet as a career.

Dr Chloe Angyal says that we might need to re-imagine what ballet looks like, so that the art form can survive and better represent the more diverse world around it.

We tend to think that friendships are meant to be easy. That they don't require the work that a romantic relationship might need.

But our relationships with our closest friends can be just as intense as any other, and just as important to keep healthy.

Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman are the hosts of the podcast Call Your Girlfriend. And when they felt that their friendship was drifting apart despite their best efforts, they decided to get outside help.

They've written about it in their new book, Big Friendship.

As a senior partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler, Mark Leibler has represented some of Australia's richest business people.

He's talked to pretty much every political leader in recent memory and has even been friends with some of them.

Leibler has argued with treasurers over tax policy, done significant pro bono work for Indigenous groups and been a powerful advocate for the Jewish community.

But who is he? That's the subject of a new biography by Michael Gawenda, called The Powerbroker.

In normal times, music lovers across Australia head out every night to catch a band down at the pub or a recital at the concert hall.

But, for much of this year, gigs have been cancelled, pubs have been closed and festival crowds have been unable to gather.

That's been tough for musicians, but perhaps even more so for the industry behind them.

In response, members of the industry have formed a new organisation, the Australian Live Music Business Council.

How is the music business surviving? And what actually happens behind the scenes, in order to get your favourite band onto a stage?

There's nothing quite like musical theatre: the emotion of a song, the energy of an ensemble, and a good dance routine.

But it's been a tough time for theatres this year, with shows cancelled and curtains drawn.

Some of the industry's biggest names are joining forces to bring the audiences back, at least for a night, and help out their colleagues across the industry.

Keeping The Curtains Up features performances from the Helpmann Awards across the years, as Shane Jacobson and Lucy Durack face their fears in front of 2000 empty seats.

They say a picture tells a thousand words.

But how do writers feel about that comparison? And can they use art to inspire their own stories?

Dr Catherine Padmore and Cate Kennedy are the creators of The Art of Writing, a new online course being run in collaboration with the National Gallery of Victoria.

It's not very often that an Australian film opens at the top of the box office in America, but that's what Relic, the debut feature by Natalie Erika James, has done over the last week.

When Edna, the matriarch of her family, goes missing, her daughter and granddaughter move into her house in the Victorian hills to help search for her.

But when Edna turns up, it's clear that something is wrong. With Edna and with the house.

Natalie and the film's co-star Robyn Nevin talk aging, inspiration, and the unpleasantness of prosthetics.

On an island in Victorian, a family falls quietly away from each other, and a girl goes missing.

Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Sydney, a man's guilty conscience leads him to hospital waiting rooms and an unexpected relationship.

Islands by Peggy Frew and No One by John Hughes are shortlisted for this year's prestigious Miles Franklin Award.

In the Drawing Room, the authors discuss their books, what it means to write about Australia, and the subjective nature of truth.

Imagine diving into water that's below freezing, and then swimming into the darkness beneath a sheet of ice in nothing but a pair of swimmers. That's just one of the remarkable feats that Kiki Bosch, an ice freediver, has been able to accomplish.

Music can be a fickle industry. Trends change, and the line between sounding fresh and keeping what made you special in the first place can be a blurry one.

But there are some artists who are able to keep the magic alive across the decades.

Peter Milton Walsh founded The Apartments in Brisbane in the late 70s and, over the years, each new album arrives to critical acclaim and a devoted international fanbase.

Peter joined Zoe Daniel to speak about finding hope, Solange, and his new single, Pocket Full of Sunshine.