Advertise on podcast: Back Story

From overlooked lives to quiet acts of endurance, Baker and Francis explore how fiction engages with history, memory and recovery. This session examines the moral responsibility of writing about the past, the role of imagination in historical storytelling, and why unresolved histories continue to shape the present.

Gianni Infantino wants to carve off the World Cup and other tournaments to a separate entity known as FIFA Forward Enterprise and open up 20% of it to private equity, underwritten by Thrive Capital.

Author P.J. Laverty joined Gold FM's Wake Up Call to talk about his new novel RIPPA II: Young Pilgrim, a reluctant teen surfer who happens to be a gun soccer player, shipped to England in the late '80s. Listen to the full chat here. 📖⚽ #YoungPilgrim #AussieSoccer

Bonita Mersiades talks with Sarah Dingle, ABC News Radio, after red card controversy involving Folarin Balogun of the USMNT at the 2026 World Cup.

In the second part of our evening session on Human Creativity vs AI, we asked four writers of different genres - Candida Baker (historical fiction/non-fiction), Amy Coomer (YA), Amy Hutton (rom-com) and Daniel Nour (memoir) - to respond to an AI prompt, "At 2:17 the phone rang. The voice on the other end said, 'It's done. You can come home now.'" They are joined by three musicians who respond to a musical prompt - Con Campbell (jazz saxophone) and Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier (rock) who bring depth, vulnerability and unexpected turns that AI can't match. They are in conversation with Alice Fraser.

Part 1 of 'The Night Shift' at Manly Writers' Festival, 2026 - an after-hours sequence of talks and live experiments examining what humans do in words and music that machines still can’t. Nick Place is in conversation with Cory Alpert, who explains what AI is actually doing to creative work, setting the scene and unpacking how algorithms shape attention, authorship and culture, and what’s really at stake for writers, musicians and audiences. Nick then talks with best-selling author, Heather Morris, to explore the craft behind emotionally resonant fiction, and what humans can do that AI can't. It is a reflective conversation about responsibility, restraint and why human storytelling still matters. Editor's note: Heather's recollection of the Anthropic matter is a personal account. It refers to a 2025 class-action settlement (reported at around US$1.5 billion) over the use of authors' books in AI training, not a private approach about two specific titles.

Not every life follows the path we’re told to expect, and not every choice is freely made. In this intimate and thoughtful conversation from the 2026 Manly Writers’ Festival, Kumi Taguchi and Lucy Nelson reflect on identity, womanhood, motherhood, childlessness, expectation and silence. From choosing, or being unable, to have children, to navigating lives shaped by grief, loss, constraint and self-definition, they create space for stories that are often overlooked. Together, they explore family expectations, belonging, resilience and what it means to live a life that doesn't follow the script. Honest, compassionate and deeply personal, this conversation speaks to anyone who has wrestled with society's expectations or found themselves living a different story. Recorded live at the 2026 Manly Writers’ Festival.

As the international order shifts, three leading commentators and strategic thinkers discuss Australia’s future in a rapidly changing world. From US–China competition and regional militarisation to democratic backsliding, disinformation and the erosion of global norms, this finale to our three-part geopolitics sessions brings contrasting views to the major strategic questions facing the nation. Dynamic and thought-provoking.

In this intimate conversation, Bob Carr reflects on love, loss, and the emotional afterlife of a shared life. Bring Back Yesterday is his deeply personal account of a 50-year partnership, and of learning how to live in the wake of profound grief following the sudden death of his wife, Helena, in 2023. Rather than offering consolation or easy answers, Carr speaks candidly about absence, memory, and how grief reshapes time, identity, and daily life. With characteristic clarity and restraint, he explores how love endures beyond loss, and what it means to keep going when the centre of one’s world has shifted. This is a quiet, searching conversation with the ABC's Sarah Dingle about devotion, resilience, and the hard work of remembering.

The book, Ruptured, brings together the voices of Jewish women in Australia reflecting on life after 7 October 2023, an event that sent seismic shockwaves worldwide. Four of the contributors to the book share deeply personal essays that wrestle with grief, fear, belonging, faith, and the fractures that opened in both public and private life, and, more recently, were highlighted in Australia by the Hanukkah attack in Bondi. In this conversation hosted by journalist and author, Suellen Dainty, they explore what it means to be shaken by history, how to live with rupture, and the fragile, necessary work of repair. Manly Writers' Festival was the first writers' festival in Australia to feature this book as part of our commitment to open, inclusive, respectful conversation as a means of building connection and developing understanding of issues that some may find confronting or contestable.

A gripping, deeply human conversation with two Australians whose lives have been transformed by conflict and state power. Kylie Moore-Gilbert reflects on her 804-day imprisonment in Iran, while journalist Mike Amor shares his experiences reporting from natural and human disasters, war zones and political flashpoints. Together, they shed light on resilience, risk, hostage diplomacy, and what it means to survive geopolitical forces beyond one’s control. A compelling centrepiece that brings the global down to the personal. In conversation with former foreign correspondent, Mark Corcoran.

Inside Australia's foreign service. What does diplomacy really look like behind closed doors? Three former diplomats (and heads of mission) lift the veil on the pressures, responsibilities and moral complexities of representing Australia abroad. From crisis management to regional relationships and the shifting expectations placed on the foreign service, this session offers a candid insider’s view of the work, challenges and changing culture of diplomacy at a time when the stakes have never been higher. Bob Bowker, Ian Kemish, Lachlan Strahan in conversation with Geraldine Doogue.

Hugh Mackay in conversation with Helen Vatsikopoulos around his latest book, 'Just Saying'. In Just Saying, one of Australia’s most trusted social commentators, Hugh Mackay, turns his sharp but compassionate gaze to the state of our national psyche. From loneliness and social division to kindness, trust and the small acts that shape community life, Mackay explores what truly matters in unsettled times.

David Picken, editor of 'Football Fans in their own write' (2023) talks with David Astle of ABC Evenings about the book and the contributors who wrote about why they follow a particular football team, headlined by the late Pope Francis.

Interview with Blanche d'Alpuget on ABC Radio Sydney with Hamish Macdonald, 5th March 2025.