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Spend an hour in someone else's life. Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met.
The Readings Podcast is a celebration of books, reading and culture. Episodes are published fortnightly and include author interviews, event recordings, booksellers chatting about their favourite reads, industry insights, and more.
The human experience is all about adapting. Whether it’s a CEO trying to ride out an international travel crisis, a surfer struggling against a monster wave while his floatation vest fails, or a media star whose whole life changes in an instant, rarely do you get to glimpse what’s really going on during a someone's darkest hour. In these revealing, personal conversations with a range of successful people, Curveball host Kellie Riordan gets the lowdown on how people grow in extraordinary time ...
Neville White was trying to heal from the trauma of the Vietnam War when he travelled out to a remote community in Arnhem Land called Donydji. Their stories became increasingly intertwined as he spent more and more time thereBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Gail Jones grew up in an old quarantine station, wondering about the soldiers who stayed there on their way home from WWI. Her new novel imagines life on the eastern front in 1917By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
In this episode, we're joined by Dominic Smith, author of the acclaimed Last Painting of Sara De Vos, a Readings favourite, to discuss his new book, Return to Valetto. A nearly abandoned Italian village, the family that stayed, and long-buried secrets from World War II. On a hilltop in Umbria sits Valetto. Once a thriving village-and a hub of resis…
Alex Braczkowski is a big cat exert and National Geographic explorer. For years he's been following a rare group of tree-climbing lions, including the charismatic, enigmatic, three-legged JacobBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Louise Kennedy on Belfast, bombs and a disastrous pav
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Writer Louise Kennedy spent her early childhood just outside of Belfast. It was the height of The Troubles and violence was ever-present. After that violence came too close to home, Louise’s family moved to the Republic of Ireland. After 3 decades working as a chef, a chance invitation to a writer's group lead to an unexpected new career.…
Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett on his life in music, environmental action, and politics, and the end of The Oils.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Amar Singh's love for faith, family and country
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Amar Singh's sense of belonging to Australia has only grown since he leant into his Sikh faith, growing out his beard and his hair, wearing a turban and committing himself to the service of his entire communityBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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The Comics Question with Charlie Hill-Smith
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Today’s episode is the second instalment of The Comics Question series. In these podcasts we discuss comics, graphic novels, and the place they inhabit within the broader books and publishing world. In this episode, we sit down with Charlie Hill-Smith, who, among many talents and pursuits like filmmaking, has produced a new comic, Crime Scene Austr…
One of the most influential disability rights activists in history tells her story of her fight for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Rodney Fox was torn apart by a great white shark and it took 462 stitches to put him back together again. He was then instrumental in filming Jaws, the most terrifying shark film of all time. But over time, this salty seadog has become the apex predator's fiercest protector (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Esther Freud has many famous men in her family, including psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. But it is her mother's story which has left the greatest mark on the writerBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Fintan O'Toole: the evolution of modern Ireland
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Fintan O’Toole grew up in an Ireland undergoing great change but before the country could move forward, it would have to deal with its sometimes dark past.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Once journalist and author Kate Legge recovered from the news her husband of 30 years was cheating on her, she uncovered four generations of infidelity through his familyBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Tait Ischia in conversation about his publishing journey and bestselling book, Copywrong to Copywriter.By Readings Books
Jess Johnston found skydiving after a tough few years, and while it might sound like a contradiction, plummeting towards the earth at 400 km/h saved her lifeBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
No, he's not 'that' Richie Ramone, but this Richie Ramone's passion for punk is just as fierce (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
For a thousand years, Colditz Castle has existed in some form, perched on the edge of a cliff in eastern Germany. From a royal hunting lodge, to a madhouse, and then most famously as an inescapable prisoner of war camp during World War IIBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
As a child, before she escaped communist Hungary, Bo Remenyi had no ambitions. But when she got to Australia all of that changed. She's gone from cruising the casino floor as a high-stakes professional poker player, to saving the lives of children in remote Australia (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
When Margaret Humphreys received a letter from Australia, she had no idea it would unearth a huge, heartless scheme that forcibly removed children from their homeland and sent them alone, isolated and confused to the other side of the worldBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Sasha Kutabah Sarago in conversation about her new book, Gigorou.By Readings Books
Darwin's Ben Graetz on becoming one of Australia's best-known Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Drag Queens (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Franceska Jordan with the story of her remarkable mother Isabella — a South African trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist who inspired her daughter to carry on her community workBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Judy's fight for Victoria's first safe injecting facility
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Growing up in Wangaratta, Judy Ryan learned we all have a responsibility to look after each other. When she moved to inner-city Melbourne that meant caring for the injecting drug users dying in her neighbourhoodBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Mark Trevorrow on how the music of composers Anthony Newley and Paul Williams influenced the course of his life and began the evolution of his alter ego, Bob Downe (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Kris Helgen loves mammals and he's ventured to some dangerous, isolated places to find them. In fact, Kris has helped name and discover more than 100 magnificent mammalsBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The new chief conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, on the chair of spikes that accompanied his early musical career, and why he doesn't tone down his Italianness in AustraliaBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Young adult author Ann Liang in conversation with Angela Crocombe and the Readings Teen Advisory Board. They discuss Liang’s recent novel If You Could See the Sun and her upcoming novel This Time It’s Real as well as her pathway to becoming a published author.By Readings Books
Two years ago, Karin Bäumler found herself in the fight for her life after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. In the thick of it all, making music with her husband Robert Forster became her refugeBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Run-away memories: Anne's story of retrograde amnesia
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After a serious brain operation, Anne Howell woke up in hospital with retrograde amnesia, thinking she was nine years old. With no real understanding of who she was or who she could trust, she set about rediscovering her identityBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
DNA expert Dr Jeremy Austin on his 14-year quest to help solve one of Australia's enduring military mysteries: the identity of the 'unknown sailor' (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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The mystery of the travelling Taranaki panels
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Taranaki descendent Rachel Buchanan with the story of priceless Maori artwork and their role in the ransom of a child, kidnapped by Italian gangstersBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
A conversations between Raimond Gaita & his nephew Ari about the photography anthology, Heart Middle Park.By Readings Books
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Nance, Ruby & Nell: the women who changed Australian cricket
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How women cricket players saved the "gentleman's" game and repaired diplomatic relations between England and AustraliaBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Teen mum Melissa Redsell proved everyone wrong
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Melissa Redsell was 16 and in her last year of school when she found out she was pregnant. Although many people told her she'd 'ruined her life' she went on to prove everyone wrongBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Firie Bronnie Mackintosh is built from tough stuff - she attends emergencies to cut people out of crushed cars and rescue them from burning buildings. Her strength was forged in Rotorua, New Zealand, where she experienced a violent undercurrent and the first frothy coffees, introduced by her parentsBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Writer Tony Birch with tales of his Fitzroy childhood including his grandmother Alma's 'op shop fever', his love for pine cones and blankets, and the macabre holiday he lived through when he was 5 years old (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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How Australia speaks to the world (and spies)
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Listened to around the world by locals, spies and military officials, Radio Australia has long been rated by its hundreds of thousands of global listeners as more informative than the BBC World Service. So why don't we know anything about it?By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Hilton Koppe on how his life as a soccer-obsessed country GP changed forever when he became a patient himselfBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Deborah Lawrie had her first flying lesson at 16, then became a flying instructor herself. But when she applied for a job as a pilot, she found herself in the fight of her life (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Where the Music Began — a story collection
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Vic Simms, Jen Cloher, Vika and Linda Bull, Rob Hirst, Elena Kats-Chernin, William Barton with stories from their formative yearsBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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John Grisham: lawyering, writing and innocence
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Novelist John Grisham with his life story; from his work as a trial lawyer, to writing, and how he became involved in a movement using DNA testing to exonerate the innocent (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Academic Danielle Celemajer on how the Black Summer bushfires brought she and her rescue pig Jimmy into a terrible proximity with the inferno, changing both of their lives foreverBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Australian Red Cross Book Club: Andrew Quilty
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Join us for another session of the Readings / Australian Red Cross Book Club on the laws and impact of war.In this session we are joined by Andrew Quilty, to discuss his latest book, August in Kabul.By Readings Books
Valerie Browning moved to the northern deserts of Ethiopia as a naive young nurse in 1973. A chance meeting on the streets of neighbouring Djibouti changed her life, and women's health in the regionBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Dr Irving Finkel on the ghosts who joined the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians in their day to day lives (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Tim Ferguson: breaking barriers and taking names
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Tim Ferguson was in the midst of a high-flying comedy career when he started experiencing 'whacky symptoms'. In his early 30s, doctors told him he had Multiple SclerosisBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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A song connection: Genevieve and the Tiwi strong women
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When Dr Genevieve Campbell heard the intoxicating music of Tiwi song women, it made her hair stand on end. Immediately she knew she needed to meet the women, and these relationships have changed her ideas of what music isBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Holly Throsby in conversation about her recent novel, Clarke.By Readings Books
Dave Gleeson is known for his blistering performances in The Screaming Jets and The Angels, but he grew up singing at Mass in Cardiff, with a mum who opened their home to hundreds of foster childrenBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
One of America's oldest lighthouses was built in 1716 and survived the Revolutionary War. Its first two keepers met dismal ends, but Sally Snowman was always enamoured by it. She is the first woman to care for the lighthouse, and now she will be the last (R)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
