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5 days ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Claire Slattery |Matthew Crawford |David Le May
Gina Chick made her name as the inaugural winner of Alone Australia, but her story begins a long time before that. It involves unimaginable hardship, death grief, illness and injury. How has she learnt to sit with all that life has thrown at her, and remain joyful and true to herself, in the face of adversity? This event was recorded at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne, with thanks to Readings Books.
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1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Richard Girvan |Ross Richardson |David Le May
The ghost people arrived by boat. They never left. But the stories of first encounters and what came next live large, 250 years later, in First Nations families and communities. An ambitious journey to reclaim the names and stories disappeared by Captain James Cook, but never lost. A deeply personal excavation of herstories and the women wrenched from their Country by colonial sealers. A Polish freedom fighter and the fight for the mountain that bears his name.
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1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Claire Slattery |Tim Jenkins |David Le May
At the time of colonisation, there were more than 250 Indigenous languages spoken in Australia, but these days, all are considered endangered. Many First Nations people are working hard to revive and reclaim their mother tongues. In the anthology, Words to Sing the World Alive: Celebrating First Nations Languages, 40 Indigenous Australians share words and phrases that are meaningful to them. This event was recorded at the Clunes Booktown Festival on on Dja Dja Wurrung Country on 22 March 2025.
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1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Claire Slattery |Bethany Stewart |David Le May
Music has been around for at least as long as humans, and possibly even back to the Neanderthals. How have forces like religion, the economy, society and technology, shaped music over time? And why, in lullabies and concert halls, songlines and streaming services, have humans always been irresistibly drawn to making it? This event was recorded at Sydney's Gleebooks.
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1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Claire Nichols |Sarah L'Estrange |David Le May |Rhiannon Brown
From Sydney Writers Festival, two bestselling writers, David Nicholls and Liane Moriarty, reveal what it's like to see their stories go from the page to the screen. The British writer David Nicholls is best known for his novel One Day, which has been adapted to film and to television. While Australia's Liane Moriarty has seen every one of her books optioned for the screen and hit the big time with the starry TV adaptation of her novel Big Little Lies.
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2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Steve Fieldhouse |David Le May
What if we could turn back time on our biological clock and slow down — even reverse — aging? High profile Harvard scientist David Sinclair is co-author of the New York Times bestseller Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To.His lab’s work is as ambitious as it is controversial. He wants to radically change the way we live our lives — and push at the boundary of what it means to be human. Professor Sinclair joins Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at the 2025 World Science Festival Brisbane.
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2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Claire Slattery |David Le May
It's been 60 years since then Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies sent Australians to fight in the Vietnam War. Since that time, the defence force has been involved in many armed conflicts and peace keeping missions around the world — but with varying degrees of public support. So how have successive Australian governments managed public consensus around military engagements? And with war once again a threat to global security, might they have to do so again?
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2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Claire Slattery |Ross Richardson |David Le May
If democracy is the will of the people, what does this federal election result say about Australia? In his election night victory speech, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australians had voted for Australian values, claiming these were fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all. But is this right message we should take from the election result? This conversation was recorded live at the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival in partnership with The Wheeler Centre.
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2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Claire Nichols |Sarah L'Estrange |David Le May |Rhiannon Brown
Kaliane Bradley shares the serious side to her obsession with muttonchops and time travel, with her book The Ministry of Time, and Rumaan Alam reflects on the success of his novels, Entitlement and Leave the World Behind which was adapted to the screen starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke. British Cambodian author Kaliane Bradley shares the inspiration behind her hit 2024 debut The Ministry of Time.
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3 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Claire Slattery |Timothy Jenkins |David Le May
When you hear politicians talk about a future made in Australia, or trade tariffs, or sovereign capability, you might picture steel or aluminium, or beef or beer, or even (since the pandemic) pharmaceuticals. But do you think about the clothes on your back? Australians are now the biggest consumers per capita of clothes in the world. But just three per cent of clothing is made here in Australia. So is it time for a fashion rethink?
