Conversations

• William McInnes' bittersweet summers — budgie smugglers, boardies and bumming around

  The author and actor thinks summer in Australia is done bigger, better and weirder than anywhere else. For three months of the year, life slows down and heats up. But for William, summer in Australia is an imperfect paradise where more than anything, people yearn to connect.Summer can be a hellish time in Australia, where temperatures soar and fires can turn bush and buildings to rubble in an instant.But despite the challenges, William McInnes looks upon this time of year with great affection and nostalgia.Growing up in Redcliffe, Queensland, William remembers the heat that burnt through his thongs, the strange ritual of assembling a plastic European Christmas tree on a 40-degree day, and simple moments in the sun like jumping off his dad's shoulders into the cool coastal water.Every summer connects William with his family, his childhood and his past, just like millions of other Australians on riverbanks and beaches around the country.It's a Scorcher: Tales of the Australian Summer is published by Hachette.This episode of Conversations explores seasons, heat, bushfires, Koolewong, weather forecast, drought, BOM, swimming, tennis, Australian Open, Boxing Day Test, Cricket, Ashes, book, memoir, writing, Australiana, Kitsch, climate change, nostalgia, family time, Christmas, holidays, New Year, how to survive the holidays, road trips, vacation, bikini, swimmers, togs, school holidays, parents.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.

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• How living like a Stoic changed my life

  Journalist and author, Brigid Delaney looked into the ancient philosophy during an assignment from her editor. What she discovered led her to years of study and a brand-new outlook on life that focuses less on happiness and more on meaning and contentment.Brigid is devoted to the Stoics, a philosophy that encourages its followers to focus on what they can control, accepting what happens outside of that sphere of control, and mastering inner peace to have a good life.These ideas have helped Brigid prepare for grief and take the edge off her anxiety by putting it in context.One of the most powerful Stoic ideas is that all the wonderful things and people in our life are “on loan” and can be taken away at any moment.Instead of taking them for granted, the Stoics wanted us to run toward them at full speed, and wring as much fun and juice out of them as we can.Further informationBrigid's new book The Seeker And The Sage, and Reasons Not To Worry: How to be Stoic in chaotic times are both published by Allen & Unwin.The Executive Producer of Conversations is Nicola Harrison.This episode contains references to a buddhist with attitude, Nassim Taleb, stoic week, Nero, improving my life, how to improve my life, how to be content, how to find meaning in life, The Guardian, Brigid Delaney's Diary, newspaper column, newspaper columnist, writer, writing life, author, novel, fable, Circles of Hierocles, meditation, Celeste Barber, Wellmania, netflix and internal happiness.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.

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• The Rajneeshees and me — why Martina thought she needed a guru to heal

  Cult survivor and psychotherapist Dr Martina Zangger on her ten years devoted to an Indian mystic and how she learned to stand on her own two feet.When Martina Zangger was 19 years old she became a devotee of the Rajneeshee Movement led by the Guru, Bhagwan.The cult had its headquarters in a huge ashram, built in rural Oregon, and Martina decided she needed to go there to be closer to Rajneesh to find the healing she desperately needed.She became a sex worker to fund her journey there from Sydney.In the ashram, Bhagwan directed his thousands of followers to wear purple clothing, work for him for free, and avoid monogamy.Then one day, Bhagwan suddenly disappeared on a Lear jet taking his collection of diamond-encrusted watches with him.Martina was left to make a life for herself back in the regular world and to slowly confront the childhood trauma that had led her to join the Rajneeshees in the first place.Not My Shame is published by Ventura Press.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris, executive producer is Nicola Harrison.It explores religion, spirituality, spiritual seeking, trauma, childhood abuse, sexual abuse, Osho, Rajneesh, Pune, India, Oregon, Ashram, meditation, cults, healing, immigration, therapy, self confidence, self worth, motherhood, perinatal psychosis, mental health, psychotherapy, psychology, relationship, monogamy, parenting, mothers of daughters, social work, social justice, Wild Wild Country, Netflix, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, guru, mystic, philosophy, spiritual bypassing.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.

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• Encore: Helen Garner's love letter to her grandson, and football

  When Helen Garner began following her grandson Amby's under-16s football team, it was a chance to spend more time with her youngest grandchild before he became an adult and she was fascinated by the spectacle.She went along to all the games, and to every training session, shivering on the sidelines at dusk, it also gave Helen a new writing project.As Helen began writing about Amby and his season, she began to realise that part of the story was about the 'ordinary beauty of human society'.This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison, the executive producer was Carmel Rooney.It explores growing older, teenagers, playing AFL, training, team sport, AFL, injury, man hood, being a grandma, family, writing, memoir, the culture of sport in Australia, writing, raising boys.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.

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• The forgotten men who fought and died in the wild jungles of Borneo

  At the very end of World War Two, Australian soldiers were sent to Borneo to dislodge the occupying Japanese Forces. The story of their brutal fighting was largely forgotten by their own compatriots, who never understood why they went in there in the first place.It was one of the largest amphibious landings of the whole war, and what followed was months of brutal fighting on an island that was both a hell and a paradise.The operation was called Operation Oboe, and it was one of the most successful military campaigns Australia has ever been a part of.But the men who fought there were never celebrated upon their return home.They were forgotten amid all the questioning of whether all the fighting and dying on Borneo needed to happen in the first place.Author Michael Veitch happened upon this forgotten story of Australians at war in the most unlikely of circumstances involving a trivia night and a grumpy older man.Borneo: The Last Campaign - Australia's brilliant, controversial end to World War Two is published by Hachette.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris, executive producer is Nicola Harrison.It explores war, battles, history, modern history, occupation, fighting, death, grief, men at war, brothers in arms, US military, military history, Japanese, Germany, Nazis, allied forces, AUKUS, ANZAC, axis powers, Russia, General MacArthur, great war, fighting, leopards, Borneo, rubber, oil, resources, surrender, books for dad, Christmas books, history books.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.

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