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Kim Huynh on his family's remarkable journey from Vietnam to Australia. And taking on the role of carer for his fiercely strong-willed father, Thiet. Kim grew up in Canberra, arriving in Australia with his family as refugees from Vietnam. Like many migrant children, Kim is a very driven person and has taken on a lot of responsibilities in life. He is an academic, an ABC broadcaster, an author and a father. And when his 80-year-old father had a serious stroke, Kim also took on the role of carer. He had to find a way to help look after his dad, with whom he was living, continue working, bringing in an income, and help raise his own son. As he continued to care for his father, Kim had to come to terms with the conflict between his dad's increasingly frail body and his still-fierce willpower; the same willpower that got his family to safety some 45 years earlier. As a carer and a father, Kim has also had to navigate the complexities of giving his whole self to the people he loves, while still feeling like he wasn't doing enough for anyone. My Old Man and Me is published by HarperCollins. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores family history, family origin stories, carers, stroke, Vietnamese refugees, Vietnamese in Australia, Vietnamese boat people, refugee crisis, migration, political asylum, fall of Saigon, Vietnam War, re-education camps, Indochina refugee crisis, Hoa people, fatherhood, intergenerational trauma, the body keeps the score, epigenetics, books, writing, memoir, taking care of your parents, fathers and sons. To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Millie Robinson’s family had been through enough as it was before her devoted dad Jim Rogers received his diagnosis in 2021. Today they navigate the unknown together and stay in the moment to enjoy their tight-knit community. Millie is a celebrant, mum and author living in Brisbane. She also supports her dad, Jim, who has younger-onset Alzheimer’s.  Millie started life in the UK, in a very tight-knit network of family and friends who wrapped their arms around Jim, Millie and her siblings when Millie’s mum died of cancer. Jim became the dad and the mum of the house, and for years put himself last to care for his babies and make sure they were alright. Then he fell in love with Tyler, and Millie gained a stepdad. The family thought they’d used up their quota of shock for one lifetime, but when Jim was diagnosed in 2021, they rallied and continue to care for him with the same devotion he showed when they were kids. Further information Holding On To Happiness, written by Jim Rogers and Millie Robinson is published by Pan Macmillan. Watch the 2025 Australian Story featuring Millie, Jim and their family. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan and the Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It covers caring for parents, Dementia Australia, living well with dementia, Hamish Macdonald, the sandwich generation, losing a mother, motherless mother, finding love again, going back into the closet, two dads, step parent, tight knit family, grandparent, Redditch, cottage, forget me not, Brisbane, moving to Australia, skin cancer, melonoma, mole, Canary Islands, celebrant, marrying, getting married, VW Beetle, high school sweetheart. To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

After a catastrophic car crash in the parking lot of her hospital, Dr Olivia Ong became a paraplegic. But her obsession with learning how to walk again was stronger than her incomplete spinal cord injury. When Olivia Ong was 28 years old, she had the world at her feet. She had recently qualified as a doctor, something she had dreamed of since she was a child growing up in Malaysia. She had married a man she loved deeply, and they were busy building their future together. Then, everything changed after a car crashed into her in the parking lot of the hospital she worked in. Olivia now refers to herself as a 'walking paraplegic'. She spent years working hard to walk again, using simple exercise therapies she discovered in the United States. Back On My Feet: From Doctor to Patient is published by HarperCollins. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores medicine, university, love, faith, spinal cord injuries, paraplegia, car crashes, from doctor to patient, marriage, love, motherhood, pain specialist, rehab specialist, California, Project Walk, exercise therapy, surgery, wheelchair user, people living with disability, parenting with disability, accessibility. To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Growing up, para powerlifter, Hani Watson’s passion for lifting had been ignited by her dad and the pack of Arnold Schwarzenegger-types in their string singlets who would accompany him to lift weights. The gym has seen Hani through agonising moments in life, and all the way to the Paralympic Games. Warning: discussion of sexual assault. Throughout her childhood she was having operation after painful operation, to try to straighten her bowed legs. After each surgery, the metal pins and screws would wreak havoc in Hani’s legs, and they resumed growing in the same way they always had. In high school, ruptures at home meant Hani had to move out and support herself, and she lost touch with her mum.  During this distressing time, a kindly school principal gave Hani the keys to the school gym, and that place became an anchor once more. After another unsuccessful surgery in her 30s, Hani was enjoying the freedom of a wheelchair, compared to the agonising and exhausting effort of walking. She turned to powerlifting to recover, which led her to worldwide competitions, eventually earning a bronze medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022.  Hani also competed at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Further information If you need support, you can chat online with someone at Lifeline, or call on 13 11 14. Hani won a bronze medal for Australia in Glasgow at this year’s Commonwealth Games! Read more here. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode covers weightlifting, powerlifting, para-powerlifting, paralympian, disability, athlete, bowed legs, osteotomies, plates and screws in your leg, divorce, marriage, trauma, domestic violence, family violence, mental health, mental illness, psychosis, weight training, drugs, drug mule, marijuana, high school, bullying, popular kids, assault, sexual assault, competition, bunnings, wheelchair, VAD, QVAD, voluntary assisted dying and chores.  To binge even more great episodes of the 'Conversations podcast' with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

During her two terms as PM, Jacinda gained global attention for her response to the terror attack in Christchurch and for giving birth at the same time as running the country. Jacinda grew up as a good Mormon girl who planned on making a difference behind the scenes. But when she unexpectedly became head of the Labor Party, only weeks away from a federal election, Jacinda discovered she had a talent for leadership. Jacinda's memoir about her time as PM and her life before and after is called A Different Kind of Power. This episode of Conversations was produced by Jen Leake and Nicola Harrison is the Executive Producer. Further Information A Different Kind of Power is published by Penguin. For more information, Penguin authors Jacinda Ardern

James O'Loghlin had only just reconnected with one of his best and oldest friends, Jum Wallner, when Jum received some terrible news. What began next was a high stakes race with a fatal deadline. The two men had grown up in Canberra, where thousands of homes had been filled with asbestos, which was often carelessly installed and removed. Jum himself had grown up in one of these so-called "Mr Fluffy" homes, named after the local company that had installed the carcinogenic insulation. When Jum felt a pain in his side, it wasn't long before the father of two and husband was diagnosed with mesothelioma and given months to live. Jum had discovered that if you got sick from being exposed to asbestos in your workplace you were entitled to compensation, but if it came from your home, you got nothing. So Jum asked his old friend James for some help to petition the powers that be to help asbestos victims like himself and their families. James began a race against time, trying to convince both the ACT and Federal governments to help Jum and others, in the middle of a pandemic, before it was too late. Along the way, James and Jum reconnected deeply as friends who desperately wished they had more time together. The Missing Piece is published by Echo Publishing. More information about the Loose-Fill Asbestos Disease Support Scheme can be found at the ACT Government's website.  This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores friendship, male friendship, university days, terminal disease, James Hardie, cancer, terminal diagnosis, how to grieve a friend, activism, petition governments, Covid, pandemic, Greg Hunt, Angus Taylor, compensation, accidental activist, dying friends, mourning, funerals, Andrew Barr, ALP, Labor party, Liberals, bipartisan, Albanese, politics, Auspol, burnout, diagnosis. To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

At 18 years old, Mick Doleman miraculously survived when his ship capsized in the freezing Southern Ocean off Tasmania. But as he floated in a life raft with his nine crewmates, his ordeal at sea had only just begun.

Professor Lorimer Moseley is neuroscientist, who specialises in the complexities and mind-boggling nature of pain - what it is, why it exists, how it works and when it can go wrong. For most of us, pain is a fundamental part of being alive, and staying alive and yet none of us will ever experience the exact same pain as someone else, which makes it incredibly difficult to understand. Every day, we stub our toes and burn our tongues. Some of us break bones and suffer from more serious illnesses and conditions. What you feel when your skin is broken or a ligament is torn is there to tell your brain to be careful, that something is wrong and needs to be protected. But what happens when doctors can't find any damage? When the tissues in your hips or the pictures of your brain seem perfectly fine, but still, there is agonising pain that refuses to leave you alone? Lorimer was a physiotherapist who came to this very specific neuroscience after his own experience with chronic pain, following a pretty gruesome sporting injury that by all accounts had been fixed by surgery. He realised that as he was learning more about how changes in the body are detected (like temperature and pressure), and communicated as pain to the brain through the central nervous system, his own chronic pain started to diminish. Since then, Lorimer has published hundreds of papers and several books on the topic, in his pursuit to help people also dig themselves out of the hellish cruelty of chronic pain. Further information You can find more resources from Professor Moseley about tackling persistent or chronic pain online at TameTheBeast.org Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. The Executive Producer of Conversations in Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris and presented by Richard Fidler.  It explores persistent pain, migraine, arthritis, neurology, psychology, distrust of the medical system, pain relief, hypersensitivity to pain, doctors who believe you, chronic conditions, endometriosis.

In 2008 Nathan Dunne was night swimming in Hampstead Heath in the middle of winter when a psychological catastrophe struck him. He felt his sense of self split in two, and an unbearable pain overtook him. He couldn’t work out what had happened to him, and neither could the doctors. CW: This discussion contains sensitive mental health details and mentions suicide. Nathan was driven to attempt suicide, and endured years of misdiagnoses from doctors and medications that didn't work. Nathan didn't have the words to describe the confusion, pain and splitting of self he was experiencing. For years, water was the symbol of his undoing. When Nathan returned home to Australia and his parents' care, his mum gave him a copy of his grandfather's war memoirs. Here, Nathan found a link that showed him the healing qualities and the beauty that were possible in water. Eventually, Nathan found a doctor who could explain his symptoms and finally give them a name — depersonalisation. Further information If you need help, you can phone Lifeline on 13 11 14. When Nothing Feels Real is published by Murdoch Books. Read more about dissociative disorders and depersonalisation on the NHS website. Read about dissociative disorders and depersonalisation specifically in relation to young people on the Orygen website. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

The Irish novelist has always been open to where life can unexpectedly take him, and the excitement that comes with that kind of freedom. Colm Toibin's first big move was from rural Ireland to Dublin after his father died when he was young.  Then, it was off to experience the wild hedonism and sexual liberation of post-Franco Spain, a pleasant shock after needing a prescription to buy condoms in Ireland. Since then, he's journeyed to Sudan, Los Angeles, New York and beyond. Wherever Colm goes, he keeps a running list in his head of tiny details — observations of seemingly mundane encounters, an offhand comment or the cut of a lady's suit on a train. Every now and then, these details bubble up in Colm's memory and another of his well-loved novels, like Brooklyn, Nora Webster or The Master, is born. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski. It explores film adaptations, death of a parent, grief, Ireland, homophobia, growing up gay, Catholicism, epic adventure, John Crowley, Nick Hornby, Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters, Dublin, immigrant experience, the Irish immigrant experience, family separation, origin stories, falling in love, books, writers, novels, life-story, family dynamics, reflection, loss, funny, comedy, repression, orgies, condom prescriptions, journalism, foreign correspondents. Colm's latest novel Long Island is published by Pan MacMillan. He was in Australia as a guest of the Wheeler Centre, RMIT, Melbourne Writers Festival and Sydney Writers Festival. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

When Hilde Hinton was on the cusp of adolescence, her mother died. For years she protected her younger siblings from the truth about their mum. Despite the great grief of her mother's shocking death when Hilde was just 12 years old, there was also a sense of relief for Hilde.  She shielded her younger siblings, Samuel and Connie Johnson, from the truth of how and why their mother died. But when Connie also died, decades later of cancer, Hilde was propelled into writing her first novel, in between shifts as a prison officer. Her debut book, The Loudness of Unsaid things, was intensely autobiographical. While Connie never got to read the book, Hilde's brother Samuel finally 'met' their mother through Hilde's writing, and learned all that his big sister had done for them growing up. Now, from her home in Melbourne, where people who need solace freely come and go, Hilde explores in her writing the ordinary things that make life extraordinary. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Richard Fidler. This episode of Conversations explores mental health, suicide, grieving, grief, death, mothers, single fathers, bipolar, mothers with mental health issues, mental health hospitals, institutionalisation, prisons, writing, books, novels, siblings, Love Your Sister, nuns, Australian Story, childhood cancer. Further information The Opposite of Lonely is published by Hachette. You can watch the episode of Australian Story, which features Hilde's brother, Samuel Johnson, online at ABC iview.

The bestselling Irish author grew up on a farm set on “50 acres on the side of a hill”. Growing up, she witnessed a harsh, misogynistic country that convinced her she would never marry. Claire shares what she has learned about writing from a litter of newborn piglets. Her works Small Things Like These and Foster have both been made into movies. Claire's stories often take place in the landscape where she grew up — the farms and small towns of Wexford in Southeast Ireland. Claire was the youngest of six children, and when she was born their farmhouse had no running water and few books. Instead, Claire fell in love with horses. As a small child she would go to the wood with her brother, who was a lumberjack. Amongst the chainsaws and workmen, little Claire would drive a harnessed horse from behind, to the roadside, to help clear the heavy trees.  And as she grew older, she developed a fierce determination to live life on her own terms. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski. This episode of Conversations touches on marriage, Magdalene laundries, contraception, Ireland, Catholicism, big Irish families, horsemanship, starting brumbies, skewbald Connemara pony, New Orleans, writing, literary prizes, farms, personal stories, epic life stories, family dynamics, Cillian Murphy and modern history. Further information Listen to Sarah's interview with Queensland horseman, Ken Faulkner. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Jamila’s craniopharyngioma had been growing for years, unbeknownst to her. In hindsight, it was her son who gave the first clue, when he stopped breastfeeding overnight at 11 months old. Today Jamila is an author, a broadcaster and the deputy managing director of Future Women, dedicated to achieving gender equity in Australian workplaces. A few years back, her life was on a powerful trajectory — she had been the chief of staff for a federal MP, written best-selling books and was a regular guest on TV panel shows. Then in 2017, she realised something was wrong with her health. At first she wasn’t worried.  Then, at 31 she was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma — a rare and recurring brain tumour. When Jamila left the world of the well, her life changed completely, in funny, strange, and harrowing ways. Jamila's book Broken Brains: For anyone who's been sick or loved someone who was is co-authored with Rosie Waterland and published by Penguin Random House. This interview was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' EP is Nicola Harrison. The presenter was Richard Fidler. Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more on the Conversations website. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Journalist and author Sonya Voumard on the rare neurological condition that has stalked her since a family tragedy during her childhood. Sonya Voumard was on the precipice of teen hood when her father suddenly and unexpectedly died. In the months following his death, Sonya developed a tremor in her right hand, not dissimilar to the shaking she sometimes noticed in her father when he was cutting the top off her boiled egg at breakfast. The tremor got worse as she got older, but working late nights as a dogged journalist, fuelled by coffee and nicotine, it almost became a badge of honour for Sonya. One day, though, a terrifying moment while driving set her off on a decades-long quest through Australia's medical system. This episode of Conversations explores disability, neurological condition, brain surgery, experimental medicine, grief, untimely death, death of a father, journalism, Port Arthur massacre, Mabo, Melbourne, substance abuse, alcohol, shaking, Parkinson's, being queer, unexplained medical anomalies, neurosurgeon, neuroscience, St Vincent's hospital, writing, books, memoir, Dystonia, essential tremor, familial tremor, MS, multiple sclerosis, medical system, medicare, public versus private patients. Tremor: a movement disorder in a disordered world is published by Finlay Lloyd. Learn more about dystonia from the Dystonia Network of Australia.

Martha Jabour was a young mum when her baby son Michael died suddenly. In the thick of her grief, she worried for the devastated young police officer who had come to her home that day, before he unexpectedly reappeared in her life (CW: this conversation discusses the death of a child). Martha Jabour has lived through the worst possible day for a parent.  When she was a young mum, she put her baby Michael to bed one night, and by the morning he had died in his sleep.  Michael was just 7 weeks old, and because his was an unexplained death, there were police on her doorstep, and a post-mortem, and an ambulance which took away her baby boy. At the time of Michael's death in the 1980s, not much was known about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Martha threw herself into support groups, fundraising, and helping to change the story for parents like her, affected by the shocking and unexplained loss of their babies.  Within a few years, research discovered more about the causes, and today rates of SIDS have fallen by nearly 90%. Martha trained as a grief and trauma counsellor, and her work with grieving parents saw her tapped on the shoulder to start a Homicide Victims Support Group. It was a job she initially said she’d only do for a year - but it became her life’s work. This episode of Conversations explores SIDS, death of a child, grieving, grief, policing, community policing, motherhood, fatherhood, parenting, birth stories, sick children, sudden loss, cot death, trauma, shock, counselling, therapy, support groups, where to find support. Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week  on 13 11 14, or text them 0477 13 11 14. Red Nose also offers counselling services to parents who have lost a child. Their number is 1300 308 307.