The Wheeler Centre

Copy editor and grammar nerd Mary Norris has seen the fabled linguistic traditions of the New Yorker up close – she has worked at the magazine for 40 years, most famously as query proofreader and Comma Queen. That experience forms the backbone of her first book, Between You & Me. Norris returned to Melbourne for a chat about her latest book, Greek to Me, and her travels through Greek language, culture and art (and, of course, so much more) with Penny Modra.

Kate Devlin, London-based computer scientist and author of Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots, joins Vanessa Toholka to talk through the philosophical and legal implications of emerging sex technologies.

In this special short episode, we hear a reading of a story that first appeared in the 'Trick' edition of our online publication, Notes. In 'The Gospel According to Angelina', Angelina Hurley testifies to fizzling miracles and the knack of holding firm and fast to family.

Michael Pollan’s books, like The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto – and Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, the latter now also a successful Netflix series – have strongly influenced contemporary ideas about agriculture, nature, nutrition and ethics. Now, with How To Change Your Mind, he's turned his eye to new research around psychedelic drugs – and discovers how they can help us learn more about human consciousness, as well as the benefits they may offer in the treatment of many illnesses. Listen in as this icon of science journalism joins Christine Kenneally for a conversation about his most personal work yet.

‘I am asking for us to consider the impact of what we report and how we report it. I am saying the ethical bar we are clearing is not set high enough. Our code of ethics needs to be rewritten, and not by people who look like me.’ In 2019's PEN Lecture, Schwartz Media editor-in-chief Erik Jensen asks how the media can change itself to keep up with a society that has already changed.

In Melbourne, Australian Rules football is a way of of life and, for many, a religion. The phenomenally successful launch of the AFLW means football is more inclusive, and more democratic, than ever before. Can we take lessons from the greatest game – and the greatest sporting culture – in human history and use them to transform our democracy? George Megalogenis and Akec Makur Chuot discuss.

An increasing number of parents are choosing to raise their children gender-neutral. What will happen if the movement grows, and we raise whole generations of people who are not assigned a binary gender at birth? What would be the flow-on effects in health and education, and for our institutions of law and citizenship? Is it possible to shield a child from ideas of gender entirely? Is altogether abolishing gender actually feasible, or desirable? Featuring Son Vivienne, Zac Collins-Widders and Bobuq Sayed.

In this conversation, presented in partnership with Human Rights Watch, we focus on some key issues and priorities relating to disability rights in the region and in conflict zones. Hear from Shantha Rau Barriga from Human Rights Watch, and from author and disability rights advocate Nujeen Mustafa. Nujeen's book, Nujeen: One Girl's Incredible Journey from War-torn Syria in a Wheelchair, tells the story of her extraordinary journey from Syria to Germany in a wheelchair – a journey she undertook in 2014 at the age of 16. Hosted by David Manne.

Santilla Chingaipe, Lyn Morgain, Janine Mohamed and Adele Murdolo look at how and why racism impacts minds and bodies – discussing internalised prejudice, shortcomings in the training and recruitment of medical professionals and institutionalised discrimination in the healthcare system.

Over decades, non-fiction writer Susan Orlean has taken readers into places their minds have never wandered – sometimes, to places right in front of them. For our Mayhem series, this giant of American non-fiction looks back on her legendary career, and its eclectic subjects, in conversation with Sarah Krasnostein.