The Drawing Room

In the grand hotels of Europe, a young boy spends his days around the rich, the influential, and the exiled.

His mother is absent, away on some unnamed journeys, but in her place are two powerful women who take him under their wings.

Around him are conversations of art and philosophy, politics and war. It's a rare grounding in the world, which leads to a rare book.

Red Heaven is the latest work by Nicolas Rothwell and it was recognised with the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction.

In an era of food that's seen chefs with larger than life personalities arrive as celebrities — in the kitchen and on the screen — Marco Pierre White is one of the biggest names.

Marco was, at the time, the youngest chef to ever be awarded three Michelin Stars, and has hosted a range of shows, including Hell's Kitchen.

He's set to tour Australia, telling his story in a new show, Out Of The Kitchen, and in the Drawing Room he talks about what makes a good meal and what he's made of his adventures so far.

Showrunners are the figures who guide and build the current age of prestige television — often starting out from the director's chair or the writers' room.

But do those opportunities exist on Australian shows? And, when it does, how does it change what audiences see on the screen?

A new program, called The Creators, is taking some of Australia's top writers to the US to talk to their American colleagues about showrunning

In the Drawing Room, Suzie Miller and Jane Allen, talk about their experience on the stage and the screen.

The Counting Crows burst onto the scene in the early nineties when their first album, August and Everything After, became a huge success, with multiple hit singles and record sales that most bands can only dream of.

Over the decades since, they've built a back catalogue of beloved songs, toured the world many times, and even received an Oscar nomination for the song they wrote for Shrek 2.

In the Drawing Room Adam Duritz and David Immerglück talk inspiration, tour buses, and Butter Miracle Suite One.

One morning in 2017, a 33-year-old Iraq War veteran, Brian Brown-Easley, walked into a bank in the US state of Georgia and informed the tellers that he had a bomb.

But Brian wasn't robbing the bank.

He had two demands: he wanted the Department of Veterans Affairs to return his paycheck and he wanted people to know his story.

Abi Damaris Corbin is making sure the second part comes true. She's the director and co-writer of a new film Breaking, starring John Boyega, which takes audiences into the bank that day.

It has been twenty years since Australia joined the coalition of the willing and the US President, George W Bush, launched Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The choice drew mass protests around Australia and, while the war itself was relatively brief, it was years before troops were permanently withdrawn.

Donna Mulhearn is a writer and activist, and in 2003 she traveled to Iraq as a human shield.

Mulhearn has written about her experiences in two books, and in the Drawing Room she looks back on her experience and on the lessons she feels still need to be learnt two decades later.

Over his ten albums, Billy Bragg has been a voice of conscience, of anger, and of empathy.

He's merged politics with music in a way that very few artists have managed and become a voice that's connected generations of fans

In the Drawing Room, Billy talks about his latest album The Million Things That Never Happened.

The Dark Side of the Moon catapulted Pink Floyd to heights that very few bands have reached, but it didn't come out of nowhere.

This was a group that had already put out seven albums and set a standard for progressive and psychedelic music that would inspire generations of artists.

Nick Mason, the band's drummer and one of the founding members, was there from the beginning, and it's those early days that lie at the heart of his latest project, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets.

On the Drawing Room, Nick talks about heading into Abbey Road Studios, the joys of improvisation, and getting back on the road.

The sculptures of Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran are bright, colourful, sometimes provocative, and always recognisable.

It's seen him collected by some of Australia's top institutions and selected as GQ's artist of the year.

In the Drawing Room, he talks about leaving the mark of humanness in his art, the melting pot of history, and his new exhibition, Undergod.

Between albums, EPs, collaborations, documentaries, and tours, Kurt Vile sets a relentless pace for someone who sounds so laid back.

In The Drawing Room, Kurt talks about his love for lo-fi instruments, covering The Boss, and his latest album (watch my moves).