The Drawing Room

A tired, lonely Chinese worker labours on the factory line inserting tiny screws into what will become the smartphone in your pocket. 

The unrelenting work conditions have seen 14 of his co-workers die. But in his mind he writes poetry about his life and experience ... a movement is underway

Canadian artist Njo Kong Kie came across the poetry of one such worker Xu Lizhi, and has created a performance called ‘I Swallowed A Moon Made of Iron’

Peter Harbison's new book ‘Alan Joyce and Qantas: The Trials and Transformation of an Australian Icon’ examines Joyce's time in the top job.The clean out of the top echelons of Qantas leadership today appears almost complete with the chairman of the board, Richard Goyder announcing he’ll retire before the end of next year.

It follows the departure of Alan Joyce last month after 15 years as CEO a difficult tenure filled with challenges Guest:Peter Harbison, author

About 30-40% of the world’s population and five million Australians are dealing with food or environmental allergies.

Despite this, not a whole lot is actually known about them, in fact, their definition can’t even be agreed upon.

A new book, Allergic: How Our Immune System Reacts to a Changing World breaks down the complicated way allergies and the immune system work. Guest: Dr. Theresa MacPhail, author

How often do you rely on spellcheck… or autocorrect to tidy up those minor errors in your emails, documents or texts each day?They might do the trick for us mere mortals but for newspapers, it’s a different story.

Joanne Anderson is the chief desk editor of  The Age, which means that she is the authority on all the words in all the articles that pass her desk each day.

Such is her knowledge of the English language that she has written us plebs a helpful and humorous handbook ‘Writely or Wrongly: An unstuffy guide to language stuff’

Guest:Joanne Anderson, author

What is it about 80's music that is so recognisable? Is it the pan-pipes, the sax, the synth?

You can almost touch the shoulder pads, feel the Miami humidity and see the Palm Trees. Because it's so visceral, it also holds a special place in film history.

Edward Gamper aka Sunglasses Kid has found a niche with his nostalgic 1980's tunes and movie themes. 

Gary Janetti has achieved the dream of many - making a successful career creating TV in Hollywood. 

Writer, producer, executive producer, creator, voice actor and author he’s worked on Will & Grace, Family Guy, Vicious and The Prince. 

He’s here to bring his witty quips and tales from his books to Australia with his show ‘An Evening(ish) in Oz. With Gary Janetti’

The year is 1963.

Lawrence of Arabia wins the Oscar for Best Picture. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech ... and JFK is shot and killed in Dallas. Valentina Tereshkova the first woman in space, returns to Earth, but it will be six years until we land on the moon.

Humanity seems to be largely moving forward… reaching up.

In the wake of these advancements five thinkers were asked ‘Has humanity’s conquest of space increased or diminished our stature?’ 

Sixty years on, as part of World Space Week, the Wheeler Centre is discussing the question.

Afrofuturism is a genre of music and art and cultural aesthetic that explores the intersection of the African experience with history, science and technology. 

It imagines alternative futures; speculative fiction with a black lens.

Mixing science, and space to explore something that is disproportionately prevalent in African genetics and a possible future without it, ‘Sweet Mama’ is set in an intergalactic game-like scenario where our hero fights the battle of Type 2 Diabetes within the body. 

When Hannah Ferguson landed a job with the Queensland Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions … she was 22 years old and full of ambition and hope ... she found herself sitting in an office cubicle for hours on end transcribing police recordings of interviews with victims and accused perpetrators hearing, in detail, stories of trauma, abuse and violence.

It transformed her perception of the justice system and the media’s reporting of it … so she started Cheek Media Co. 

She's just written her first book 'Bite Back: Feminism, media, politics and our power to change it all' a scathing critique of the current state of Australian politics, media and feminism… with some ideas on how we might be able to help make change.