The Drawing Room: Recent Episodes
ABC Radio
Retire to the eclectic environs of the RN Drive Drawing Room, for music, musings and unexpected conversations. The Drawing Room is equal parts performance space, salon, and kitchen table confessional.
She was at one time named the “Woman who saved Australia”.
Gladys Berejiklian's political trajectory saw her lead Australia’s largest state through catastrophic times. But one question at a press conference began to unravel that and led to an ICAC investigation which would find that she breached public trust and found her guilty of serious corrupt conduct.
The reporter who asked that question was Paul Farrell, from ABC Investigations. He is the author of a new book Gladys: A Leader’s Undoing.
Imagine seeing your first dates and flirtations with your partner play out on national TV. Your romance is a storyline at the whim of editors and producers.
Then imagine your romance, and your personality, being picked apart on the internet, strangers weighing in on you and your actions in forums and social media.
Alisha Aitken-Radburn has written about her time in The Bachelor franchise in her book The Villain Edit.
What's the difference between a viola and an onion? No one cries when you cut up a viola.Brett Yang and Eddy Chen of TwoSet Violin, enjoy a joke about violas as much as the next person … maybe more as they combine classical music appreciation and YouTube culture, in a channel that’s had more than 1.3 billion views.They're currently on a world tour having a chuckle at chamber music.
When you look at photos of the band The Cruel Sea many of them are your typical band picture … what these pictures don’t tell you is how much of a laugh The Cruel Sea loves to have. And while band members have come and gone, The Cruel Sea have been having a laugh and playing tunes for more than three decades and they’re heading off their 30th-anniversary tour for their award-winning album ‘The Honeymoon Is Over’.
When you go to a concert what do you wanna see? Do you want to hear your favourite songs you already know every single word to …. or do you want to hear the new songs that may be your new favourites? Every set list by every band has struggled with this idea.Singer-songwriter Tim Finn is giving the people both. After a decade or so off the touring circuit, he’s heading out on tour. The Lives and Times Of Tim Finn will have all the fan faves from Split Enz, Crowded House, his solo work, and everything in between.
In Mixed Martial Arts or MMA you win one of two ways - either by punching or kicking your opponent hard enough to render them unconscious or if they tap out … in the ring, there are rules and your enemy and the objective is clear. However, in life, sometimes the lines are blurred and the rules aren’t clear. Sometimes your opponent is you … and the mistakes you make result in more than just losing points.Nigerian-born New Zealander and current UFC middle-weight champion - Israel ‘Izzy’ Adesanya is the subject of Zöe McIntosh’s documentary Stylebender.
A bolt of lightning in movies, TV and literature is often portrayed as a message from the heavens, a catalyst for great destruction or transformation. In real life being struck by lightning usually leads to any number of physical and cognitive symptoms… usually leaving the person irrevocably changed in some way.Cellist Zoë Barry had not 1, not 2 but 3 close encounters with lightning within 6 months. Her work The Nervous Atmosphere explores the after-effects.
He’s one of those artists that every time you read about him he’s doing something entirely different. From a tour with Ben Kweller and Ben Folds…to becoming a death doula, from a kids album about Islam to selling essential oils on the internet…even a nominee for World’s Sexiest Vegetarian.
In the busy streets of Manilla, you’ll see people getting in and out of what looks like a mix between a Jeep and a Jitney which is a minibus - therefore a Jeepney. Intricately painted and riotously decorated. The Jeepney is a symbol of Filipino art and culture and so Darwin-based artist Kuya James has found inspiration in them for his new album 'Jeepney Rock'
A big, ungainly baby waddles down the road, hands outstretched holding a cigarette. A huge roving eyeball looks out over a hotel balcony. A giant brain lumbers slowly down the stairs, bumping off the handrail. A gigantic disembodied foot treads on a too-slow picnicker, and a severed hand appears out of nowhere to push it off, all the while a nose bounces around behind them.
Such is the surreal spectacle of a Snuff Puppets public performance. You might encounter an oversized body part or animal the size of a bus and the beauty of these beasts is their ability to surprise, delight and sometimes even disgust.
David Cossini calls himself an immersive photographer. He prefers to meet his subjects on their level... even going so far as to inhabit a squat with his subjects for his collection on punks in London.
David's work in Uganda has just won the Art Handlers' Award in the National Photographic Portrait Prize. His latest collection 'Business in the Front, Party in the Back!' is a study of the mullet and those who don them.
Once you reach 7000 meters above sea level, your body is never warm. No matter how suitable your clothes are, your body isn't burning enough oxygen to trap and heat and you still have 1000 meters to go.
This is the astonishing private life of Bee Miles. One of Australia’s most iconic eccentrics known in the 50s and 60s for her Shakespeare recitals and her dangerous obsession with jumping onto moving trains, trams and vehicles. A firebrand even as her decline neared.
Rose Ellis has completed a biography of the Sydney personality - Bee Miles: Australia’s famous bohemian rebel, and the untold story behind the legend
Do you remember those magic eye picture books?
Hungarian visual artist László Bordos also plays with image and visual tricks creating a kind of trompe l'oeil- projecting onto some of the the most beautiful architecture in the world, plunging them in and out of darkness, so that you’d almost swear that parts of the building disappear.
His next canvas is Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, part of the Now or Never Festival.
As Australia’s first Human Rights Commissioner, Brian Burdekin has spent a lifetime advocating for the needs of these children, those with disabilities and mental illness.
What do you picture when you imagine a poker game?
A dimly lit, smokey room with a green felt table? Stacks of chips? decks of cards? I’m willing to bet, you were imagining a group of men playing poker.
It’s a game often depicted as a masculine - where risk, strategy, assertiveness and financial savviness are key.
Options trader and businesswoman Jenny Just says she noticed a lack of these traits in her daughter and female employees, so she took a gamble and began teaching women to play poker with her company PokerPower.
Using a wealth of archive material and interviews with those who worked with her 'MERKEL' the documentary takes a look at the personal and political life of the previous Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel.
Director Eva Weber joins the show to discuss what she found out about the leader and her legacy.
Guest:
Eva Weber, Director
The 9-stringed romantic guitar has a particular kind of sound to it... the extra strings provide a balanced blend of the treble and bass giving it a kind of depth… a richness to it.
Guitarist Petra Poláĉková is one of the very few female 9-string classical guitar players. She discusses her influence and listens as she graces our ears with a romantic piece by Johann Kaspar Mertz.
Petra is currently touring Australia performing and running workshops.
Summer is such a part of the Australian national identity. But what if there was no longer a winter to counterbalance summer? What if there was no reprieve from the heat?
What better way to express and process our anger, sorrow, and worry about the inevitable changes climate change will bring through art?
Written in the aftermath of the 2019/2020 bushfires Noëlle Janaczewsk's play The End of Winter grapples with exactly this.
Guest:
Jane Phegan, actor
It’s the closest thing to space we have here on Earth; extreme isolation and confinement, limited communication. No plants or animals to be seen. Months of total darkness and only 12 other people to talk to for a year.
It’s the Concordia research station in Antarctica and if you’re feeling claustrophobic, then maybe being an astronaut isn't for you.
But for Dr Meganne Christian spending a year at the research station helped her realise her dream of becoming an astronaut.
Guests:
Dr Meganne Christian, Reserve Astronaut
1966 Greenwich Village, the centre of counter-culture. 23-year-old Patricia Field opens her boutique and it would become a hub for creatives for the next five decades.
Today, at 82 years old her costume and styling work has made hit shows like Sex And The City, the Devil Wears Prada and Emily In Paris iconic fashion touchstones.
She is the subject of Michael Selditch's new documentary 'Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field'
Guest:
Michael Selditch, producer/director
Old and rare book collections bring to mind the personal libraries of the landed gentry in England. Floor-to-ceiling shelves of dark leather bound books with gold engraved covers. Maybe a little bit dusty… perhaps musty.
What is the future of these books and book collections if they cannot be poured over… shared… handled… enjoyed... it's a question raised - and potentially answered - by digitising old and rare books.
History of Books and Shakespeare expert Emma Smith spoke on the topic for the launch of the State Library Victoria's new online exhibition Beyond The Book.
In 1989 rock was king. On the mid-north coast of NSW, Newcastle was serving up some of Australia’s best new music.
There’s nothing more pitiful or senseless than a mass stranding of whales. Around 100 Pilot whales stranded themselves recently on the WEST coast. It’s senseless, largely because we still don't really know WHY whales beach themselves.
The largest recorded mass stranding in Australia was in 2020, when almost 500 whales beached, at possibly the most treacherous and infamous inlet in the country - Hells Gates, at Macquarie Harbour on the western coast of Tasmania.
Little did the locals who tried to save them know that whales would beach again exactly two years later TO THE DAY. Their testimonies form the new show, “Hells Gates” by Joel Carnegie, welcome to you.
Banzai Pipeline is the centre of the surfing universe. It's made careers but it has also claimed lives.
In 2015 Aussie pro surfer Owen Wright emerged from these frothing blue waves a different version of himself, he was lucky to emerge at all.
His new book about his experience is called 'Against the Water'
When we think of our culture it’s easy to think of the culture of the big urban cities.
Much like hip-hop DJs sample a genre-busting variety of music to create something new in itself Australian artistic duo Soda Jerk does so for video.
Creating a film HELLO DANKNESS, which skewers the farcical nature of American politics using video and audio samples from over 500 tv shows and movies.
When you think of a cellist, you might think of Jacqueline Du Pre or Yo-Yo Ma, and less about Skrillex, the soundtrack for The Hangover 2 or heavy metal. Cellist Tina Guo is a rebel. She’s created a unique brand for herself and her stringed instrument, bringing the cello into all sorts of places across different musical genres and projects you may not expect.
Considered one of the top rock operas of all time and The Who’s Magnum Opus Tommy is getting a new lease on life.
Legendary Australian band You Am I is taking Tommy on tour with special guest vocals from Sarah McLeod and Hayley Mary.
It’s a delicious rock’n’roll layer dip.
Ever wondered what your life might look like if you hadn’t made a particular decision?
The Sydney Theatre Company ‘Constellations’ uses the idea of the multiverse taken from quantum physics to explore the concept of infinite outcomes.
It follows Roland, a beekeeper and Marianne, a physicist through their romantic relationship, depicting moments and possibilities.
Not many people get to control their legacy. Even fewer of those get to do it with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
A soldier, farmer, diplomat, advocate, father… and politician - he was the leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister.
Tim Fischer was one of those rare politicians who was well-liked and respected across the political spectrum by colleagues and constituents.
Peter Rees has just completed a biography on Tim Fisher called ‘I Am Tim: Life, Politics and Beyond’.
There's a rich history of country duos but not many from Queensland let alone the town of Rockhampton.
Busby Marou talk about shifting genre but always coming back to country music.
Tom and Jeremy make up Busby Marou and their new album Blood Red is out now. They'll be touring nationally in August.
At this very minute, microorganisms in your gut are impacting your how you think and behave. Think about that before blaming others for being on your nerves.
Bowel health. Probiotics. Faecal transplants; Gut health is certainly not the sexy side of medicine, but it is an increasingly important one, impacting everything from your allergies to obesity.
Sarah Schenck and Steven Lawrence produced the documentary The Invisible Extinction to explore the current research around microbiomes.
It’s 1993. Paul Keating is the Prime Minister.
Sydney has won the bid to host the 2000 Olympics, Newcomer Shane Warne delivers the ball of the century in the Ashes and on the radio amongst the wall of Oz rock in the Triple J hottest 100 that year, this smooth, Lou Reed-esque tune leaps out at you... it's 'Night of the Wolverine' by Dave Graney and The Coral Snakes.
On the 30th anniversary of the hit record, the band are taking it back on tour.
Should former slave-holding countries pay for their past wrongs? That’s what a group of Caribbean nations are looking to do.
The Caribbean group says reparations are not only about monetary compensation for enslaved people’s descendants… but a wider recognition of the continuing effects of colonisation.
At one time considered Australia’s most important book - Nevil Shute’s novel On the Beach follows a group of friends and colleagues in 1960’s Melbourne after the fallout of a short but disastrous nuclear war which has wiped out humanity north of the equator.
The characters are living on borrowed time, speculating wildly about the direction of the deadly radiation clouds, desperately grasping at scientific theories about its toxicity and the possibility of survival.
Australian playwright Tommy Murphy has adapted the novel for a first-ever stage version for the Sydney Theatre Company.
Guest:
Tommy Murphy, playwright
Their angelic voices belie their rugged and hairy visage.
The Spooky Men are a choir made up of men, but they want you to know they are definitely NOT a men's group.
Canberra is a landlocked city. But that hasn't stopped naval ships being named after our bush capital.
There's of course the HMAS Canberra. But this Saturday a new ship will be officially commissioned at Garden Island in Sydney Harbour: The USS Canberra.
It's a US naval ship and to mark the occasion the U.S. 7th Fleet Band - based in Japan - is here to perform this weekend.
Did you know that The Kimberley in WA was at one time seriously considered as an option for the Jewish Homeland?
That’s according to SBS’s new docu-series Who The Bloody Hell Are We, a three-part series uncovering the unknown histories of the Jewish, New Zealand and Chinese communities in Australia.
John Safran discusses delving into Australia's Jewish history in the first episode.
What does a glacier sound like?
Internationally acclaimed visual artist Benjamin Knock went to Iceland with a sound recordist and captured recordings of the glaciers and the surrounding volcanically active areas with bizarre things called hydrophones, Seizmaphones and Geophones for his exhibition Terra-Therma.
He's compiled a multi-disciplinary exhibition to bring the sights and sounds of Iceland to Melbourne.
Fresh from releasing reissues of classic albums Electrical Storm and Honey Steel’s Gold, the legendary punk pioneer and co-founder of The Saints, The Aints and Laughing Clowns, Ed Kuepper has announced a national tour in September.
He reflects on his influences, inspirations and how his grandkids interact with his music.
Singer-songwriter Julie Byrne’s folk songs may sound gentle and ethereal, but they carry the weight of immense emotional heft.
Following the sudden passing of her long-term collaborator and producer, Eric Littmann, her new album “The Greater Wings” moves through shared experiences that are both timeless and life-affirming.
Ukrainian composer and electronic musician Heinali has transformed years of pre-war audio recordings of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv into a time capsule of ambient sound and memories of a city now besieged in his album 'Kyiv Eternal'.
Scott Patterson's new book “Chaos Kings: How wall street traders make billions in the new age of crisis” looks into the world of the doom-mongers making a fortune from the worst-case scenarios.
‘The Days Toppled Over’ unravels the complex systems that lead to the exploitation of international students in Australia, through a heartening story about family, success and the migrant experience.
A new film asks if our drive to tell stories is overriding our ability to put the subjects of documentaries first?
Mutti Mutti man Uncle Kutcha Edwards is a highly respected elder and survivor of the Stolen Generations who has been combining songwriting and activism since 1991.
Aboriginal Elder Uncle Thomas Slockee has spent the last four decades championing his community and advocating for housing justice for Indigenous people.
Did you know that the Southern Cross constellations tells the story of the first man who died on earth?
A new documentary from Indigenous filmmaker Professor Larissa Behrendt, ‘You Can Go Now’ explores Richard Bell's life, art and activism.
Author, filmmaker and proud Wiradjuri woman Brenda Matthews is part of the Stolen Generation. But her story is unlike anything we’ve heard before - she was taken not once but twice from families who loved and cared for her deeply.
Growing up in northern Alabama, Musician Jason Isbell’s grandfather taught him to play music and a love of Blues music, leading him to a massively successful career.
The Sydney opera house is about to launch a new restaurant with a never before seen range of native ingredients on the menu.
Investigative reporter Nick McKenzie's new book ‘Crossing the Line’ details the journey from the alleged war crimes in Afghanistan to the ultimate triumph in the Federal Court earlier this month.
A new documentary investigates the history of an organised crime group with links to the Calabrian mafia, that wreaked terror in the sugarcane fields of north Queensland.
Lucinda Williams forged her own way through the predominantly male business side of country music, but in 2020, she was dealt not one, but a trio of crises.
When it comes to the weapons of war and conflict, it’s ultimately humans from the other side who are the guinea pigs.
In 1920's post-revolution Mexico, the country is rebuilding and stabilising itself after ousting authoritarian rule and giving way to the so-called ‘Mexican Renaissance’.
The famous and gruelling 24-hour Le Mans car race has drivers working around the clock, taking turns to push their machines in the ultimate test of endurance and continuity.
Charlie Chan is about to attempt the same on the piano, find out how they plan to do with a little help from some friends and a counterpart called... chAI.
Humans have long looked to the animal world to help explain our own. Think George Orwell's Animal Farm; a mirror of our own complexity with simple and deeply sardonic animal metaphors.
Slavic folklore and storytelling traditions also echo this dark humour and anthropomorphism — a new performance looks at human history and migration through the lens of a chicken — a character almost never cast as a hero.
Verdi claimed Rigoletto was his best opera, saying he would never write any better.
With themes of greed, betrayal, revenge and misogyny - it’s a much-loved Opera and one of the most popular of all time.
Soprano Stacey Alleaume discusses her role as Gilda in Opera Australia’s Rigoletto.
In Europe, around 1780 there was a bold and wild new idea in popular music which has shaped the concerts you see to this very day. Up until then, orchestras were background music for entertaining in small rooms in private homes salons while everyone tittered, japed and drank.
Along came Joseph Haydn, who wrote music for grander spaces, where a larger orchestra was the main event, in turn, inspiring a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to pen a rapid-fire flurry of ‘Joyous’ and ‘energising’ symphonies all within a five-year period.
They were the first Australian sports team to ever visit North Korea, they were also the first side to pose nude for a calendar and they're the first Australian team – male or female – to reach the quarter finals of a FIFA World Cup, not once but three times.
This team is the Matildas.
Their journey to global success hasn't been easy. Like women's football around the world, male football associations denied their existence for decades.
Restless Dance Theatre's latest show is ‘Exposed'. It explores the way we deal with our vulnerabilities and how we react when we are challenged.
Artistic Director Michelle Ryan joins us to discuss the dance company's mission and methods for bringing the concept to life.
Whatever Fatherhood is, it’s not what it used to be. And probably not what it will be in the future. In fact, it largely mirrors what it is to be a man itself. And for some men, the inability to talk about these two factors, we know, leads to much higher rates of suicide.
When Liam Budge, aka “Creswick” became a father in 2018 it was a profound transition and source of creative inspiration. In his first multi-disciplinary live performance, he takes the real experiences of men and combines them with song.
In Pormpuraaw Western Cape York, Far North Queensland, we see a tropical landscape - crystal clear waters, green mangroves and hot sun. A picture of paradise. But in the deep north - the communities are small, remote, and almost impenetrable. When the law breaks, nobody is around to hear it.
The documentary The Cape investigates the life and law of the fisherman, the true story of two family clans- the Gaters, and the Wards - and the disappearance of a father and son in 2003.
Director, Christoffer Guldbrandsen speaks with Andy about the attraction of the politician for a documentary maker and the man he found behind Trump.
Across this expansive land, our great range of landscapes and environs play host to the buildings in which we live, work, learn, worship, and play.
Self-professed ‘architecture nerd’ Tim Ross explores examples of Australia’s built environment, both historical and contemporary, and how they inform our sense of culture and community in the second series of 'Designing A Legacy'
On June 6, 1944, in Normandy, the Allies launched the largest seaborne invasion in history known as D-day or Operation Overlord.79 Years later and another war is still raging in Europe.It can be hard to connect to something that is happening so far away and so long ago. So, what is our connection to war and peace … and why does history repeat itself?
Our fascination with the intersection of light and nature and rituals around painting the night sky is something that designer, innovator, architect poet, and educator Daan Roosegaarde is delving into - in his latest exhibition SPARK, a new sustainable celebration at Federation Square in Melbourne for Rising Festival.
Folk Bitch Trio started as a joke when three teenagers were 17, now they're living together and sharing the stage with names like Julia Jacklin and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.Their three-part harmony has been described as heavenly and while the band is making serious moves Gracie, Jeanie, and Heide are making sure they still have fun. Chain mail included, of course.
Could there be anything more romanticised than the bohemian share houses of your youth, with a cast of random characters, perhaps painters, activists, addicts, the odd petty criminal, all floating around on the philanthropy of couches and begged cigarettes?Where I Slept by Libby Angel is autofiction, blending autobiography and fiction about living on the fringes of Melbourne society in the 1990's.
Dylan Thomas's famous poem 'Do Not Go Gentle Into The Night' is befitting of the story of Captain Robert Scott’s historic attempt to reach the south pole in 1912, in the latest play from Patricia Cornelius.
Combing Thomas's words and themes and Scott's legendary journey, Sydney Theatre Company’s new production Do Not Go Gentle explores the importance of living to the fullest, ageing, and dying.
Oral traditions often provide a rich and incontestable foundation for artists … but what do you do if that heritage is a combination of Filipino, Wiradjuri, and European origins, in a family packed to the rafters with musicians? Mo’Ju uses a mixture of soul, blues, and R&B to explore and make sense of their histories.
Could there be any other domain, more male or more Australian, than the barbecue.But Australian born cook, author and influencer Jess Pryles has come to challenge both those stereotypes, and living in Texas, has become a sensation even in American barbecue culture.
Anthony Joseph was born on the warm, spiced trade winds of Trinidad and Tobago. Before he moved to the rainy doldrums of England at the age of 22 and becoming the lead singer of a heavy rock band.Cut to earlier this year and the poet, writer, and academic won the T. S Eliot Prize for his book ‘Sonnets for Albert’.
Some of us, like me, adore camping, the great outdoors, getting away from it all. But usually we’d have a tent, sleeping bag, maybe a portable burner, perhaps a double pronged telescopic marshmallow fork, for the camping maximalist.But the winner of the Australian series of ALONE, the successful TV import from the US and Canada, survived in the wilderness longer than anyone else… completely alone and unequipped.
Mis and disinformation or 'alternative facts' have become a mainstay of our modern world.As trust in journalism is eroded, how do we protect the truth?
He hails from Sweden, sings mostly in English but has been described as having ‘the soul of an Argentine troubadour’.José González is a singer-songwriter whose vocals and intricate guitar melodies simultaneously blend of folk, indie rock, and classical influences. González first captured the hearts of listeners worldwide with his debut album ‘Veneer’.
Weyes Blood, the musical persona of Natalie Mering, filters the best of pop’s history into a sound that’s timeless and uniquely her own.The latest album, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, is the second in a trilogy of sorts… following on from the critically acclaimed Titanic Risen.
Sony music gave him his first record deal when he was 16. He wasn't a pop star or the lead in a boy band. He's a classical guitarist and according to some ‘The King of Strings’. You might think he might have a big head after all that but Slava Grigoryan's new album is all about gratitude.
If the past couple of years have taught us anything it’s that what we previously thought was rock solid (our health, our jobs, relationships… the economy) might actually crumble at any moment.And with live music, we certainly didn’t know what we had until it was gone. Lead singer of The Last Drinks, Cash Savage talks about her experience of performing without an audience at Hamer Hall and her new appreciation for the fragility of mental health.
The Venetian opera Giustino by Giovanni Legrenzi was THEE smash hit of the 1680’s’.It tells the story of a shepherd who, through a series of quests and magical interventions, ultimately becomes the Emperor of Rome.Giustino is notoriously action packed for a baroque opera, involving sea monsters, elephants, ghosts, bear fights, damsels - you name it, Giustino pretty much has it. Pinchgut Opera is preparing this production directed by Dean Bryant with Guistino played by Nicholas Tamagna.
Everyone's life could benefit from a soundtrack sometimes. A swelling score to emphasise the highs and the lows. One of Australia's best loved artists Kate Ceberano has been able to do just this. She joins us to talk about her 30th album My Life Is A Symphony, which re-imagines some of her biggest hits and her personal favourites with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.She'll be touring nationally with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra from May 27th, you can find more info on her website here
When Tanya Lee was nine, she was sexually abused by her father in secret, that would go on for five years. She’s now turning this taboo inside out in her podcast, No Laughing Matter.
Dan Sultan has captivated audiences since his debut album in 2006, been an ARIA musician of the year and has a string of other awards and nominations hanging from his belt. But his life hasn’t been without its challenges…and through some of the darkest times has come hope, bound together with the love and support from those around him. This journey has set the tone for his latest studio album, self titled Dan Sultan
The National Herbarium of New South Wales, houses a growing collection of over 1 point 4 million plant specimens… It's here that author and research academic Dr Prue Gibson learnt about the plant naming wars, and the fascinating keepers of this knowledge for her book The Plant Thieves: Secrets of the herbarium.
"When you don't know what you're looking at, you can't see the red flags until it's too late". It’s a hard reality for many trapped in abusive relationships. Sometimes it’s safer to stay, sometimes it’s impossible to escape.But do we really understand just how high the stakes are for women, children and those trying to save them?SBS’s new drama series Safe Home opens up some of the stories behind family violence.
From photography to photoshop, technology has a long history of changing the way that artists approach their work.But is AI part of that same lineage? Or something else entirely?In his new exhibition, GEN, Ry David Bradley combines AI generated fields with a traditional artist's brush, to create something entirely unique.
Pulling together a handful of brilliant singer-songwriters for one acclaimed album seems tricky enough, but keeping it going for decades is something else entirely.That's just another day at the office for The New Pornographers — whose ninth album, Continue As A Guest, continues their tradition of catchy hooks and clever lyrics.In the Drawing Room, A.C. Newman talks about the ideas behind the new release.
He was the first elected representative for the Greens in Australia, and helped build the party into the force it is today.But Bob Brown's actions have never been limited to the halls of power.From the campaign to stop the Franklin dam, to his protests against logging, Brown has been arrested multiple times for standing up for his beliefs, and its that conviction that's helped to create enduring movements.A new film, The Giants, not only looks at Brown's life, but in parallel, the magical ecosystems he's dedicated that life to protecting.
Growing up and growing old can lead to some significant changes in our family relationships.Where once the children were the ones in need of care and attention, they sometimes need to become the carers in turn.But what do those changes mean for our relationships with each other?And what is it like when you realise that you share the same traits that drive you to distraction?Todd Alexander talks about his own experience and his new book, Over the Hill & Up the Wall.
The tales of Bluey Heeler and her family have captured children and parents alike and it isn't just an Australian phenomenon — it's become perhaps the country's biggest cultural export since The Wiggles.In the Drawing Room, the show's executive producer, Daley Pearson, and director, Richard Jeffery, talk about how the show comes to life.
The leadership of a business can make a huge difference, not just to the bottom line, but to the happiness of the people who work there and the culture that they create.But in his latest book, First Leaders, Andrew O'Keeffe wanted to move away from the traditions of the big Western companies and look instead to the lessons of First Nations societies around the world.He visited twelve different societies looking at how they've worked together for centuries, building sustainable bonds with each other and the world around them.
"My subject is War, and the pity of War. The poetry is in the pity… All a poet can do today is warn"Those are the words of Wilfred Owen that Benjamin Britten quoted on the score of his War Requiem: one of the great pieces of sacred music and one of the great warnings.The British tenor Toby Spence is lending his voice to the requiem when he performs with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and in the Drawing Room he discusses the work, his battle back to the stage, and the importance of sound imagination.
Hong Kong: where a protest movement has clashed with an increasingly authoritarian regime and a man who claimed to be the King of Kowloon became the city's most collected artist.In Louisa Lim's latest book, Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong, she dives back into the history of the Island and her own relationship with the city she grew up in, before returning to the protests and what it means to be an ethical journalist.Indelible City has been shortlisted for the Stella Prize.
Mixing wall-of-sound guitars with an ear for a good hook, Melbourne band Flyying Colours have continued the proud tradition of shoe-gaze, and won an international fan base along the way.In the Drawing Room, Brodie J Brummer talks about international tours, opening his own venue, and the band's third album, You Never Know.
In the grand hotels of Europe, a young boy spends his days around the rich, the influential, and the exiled.His mother is absent, away on some unnamed journeys, but in her place are two powerful women who take him under their wings.Around him are conversations of art and philosophy, politics and war. It's a rare grounding in the world, which leads to a rare book.Red Heaven is the latest work by Nicolas Rothwell and it was recognised with the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction.
In an era of food that's seen chefs with larger than life personalities arrive as celebrities — in the kitchen and on the screen — Marco Pierre White is one of the biggest names.Marco was, at the time, the youngest chef to ever be awarded three Michelin Stars, and has hosted a range of shows, including Hell's Kitchen.He's set to tour Australia, telling his story in a new show, Out Of The Kitchen, and in the Drawing Room he talks about what makes a good meal and what he's made of his adventures so far.
Showrunners are the figures who guide and build the current age of prestige television — often starting out from the director's chair or the writers' room.But do those opportunities exist on Australian shows? And, when it does, how does it change what audiences see on the screen?A new program, called The Creators, is taking some of Australia's top writers to the US to talk to their American colleagues about showrunningIn the Drawing Room, Suzie Miller and Jane Allen, talk about their experience on the stage and the screen.
The Counting Crows burst onto the scene in the early nineties when their first album, August and Everything After, became a huge success, with multiple hit singles and record sales that most bands can only dream of.Over the decades since, they've built a back catalogue of beloved songs, toured the world many times, and even received an Oscar nomination for the song they wrote for Shrek 2.In the Drawing Room Adam Duritz and David Immerglück talk inspiration, tour buses, and Butter Miracle Suite One.
One morning in 2017, a 33-year-old Iraq War veteran, Brian Brown-Easley, walked into a bank in the US state of Georgia and informed the tellers that he had a bomb.But Brian wasn't robbing the bank.He had two demands: he wanted the Department of Veterans Affairs to return his paycheck and he wanted people to know his story.Abi Damaris Corbin is making sure the second part comes true. She's the director and co-writer of a new film Breaking, starring John Boyega, which takes audiences into the bank that day.
It has been twenty years since Australia joined the coalition of the willing and the US President, George W Bush, launched Operation Iraqi Freedom.The choice drew mass protests around Australia and, while the war itself was relatively brief, it was years before troops were permanently withdrawn.Donna Mulhearn is a writer and activist, and in 2003 she traveled to Iraq as a human shield.Mulhearn has written about her experiences in two books, and in the Drawing Room she looks back on her experience and on the lessons she feels still need to be learnt two decades later.
Over his ten albums, Billy Bragg has been a voice of conscience, of anger, and of empathy.He's merged politics with music in a way that very few artists have managed and become a voice that's connected generations of fansIn the Drawing Room, Billy talks about his latest album The Million Things That Never Happened.
The Dark Side of the Moon catapulted Pink Floyd to heights that very few bands have reached, but it didn't come out of nowhere.This was a group that had already put out seven albums and set a standard for progressive and psychedelic music that would inspire generations of artists.Nick Mason, the band's drummer and one of the founding members, was there from the beginning, and it's those early days that lie at the heart of his latest project, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets.On the Drawing Room, Nick talks about heading into Abbey Road Studios, the joys of improvisation, and getting back on the road.
The sculptures of Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran are bright, colourful, sometimes provocative, and always recognisable.It's seen him collected by some of Australia's top institutions and selected as GQ's artist of the year.In the Drawing Room, he talks about leaving the mark of humanness in his art, the melting pot of history, and his new exhibition, Undergod.
Between albums, EPs, collaborations, documentaries, and tours, Kurt Vile sets a relentless pace for someone who sounds so laid back.In The Drawing Room, Kurt talks about his love for lo-fi instruments, covering The Boss, and his latest album (watch my moves).
It was the pain in Billie Holiday's voice that first drew Mary Coughlan to her songs.That shared pain has been an inspiration over the years, as Coughlan took her own experience of addiction and childhood abuse and became one of the most revered jazz and blues singers in her home of Ireland, covering Holiday's songbook along the way.In the Drawing Room, Coughlan looks back at the moments of joy, sorrow, and forgiveness that have made up her life so far.
The photographs of Nan Goldin bear witness to the communities that she's been a part of, providing a loving tribute to those around her and scandalising those who would rather ignore the truths that she presents.It's work that has been collected by many of the world's great museums.But more recently, Nan has turned her gaze on those museums, campaigning to have the Sackler name removed from their walls and their collections, because of the family's involvement with Oxycontin and the opioid crisis.Documentary maker Laura Poitras takes audiences into Nan's campaign, her life and her career in the new film All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.
Large parts of the world's most populous countries could become uninhabitable.That's the stark warning behind Gaia Vince's new book, Nomad Century, which looks at what could happen if temperatures rise to four degrees above pre-industrial levels, a possibility that she says is far more likely than we want to believe.That would mean billions of people affected, and many of them on the move — an era of climate refugees.But Vince believes that migration can be a solution instead of a problem, and that beginning to plan now will prevent much worse upheaval in the long term.
Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn are two of the world's greatest banjo players.Both Grammy Award winners, who have worked across many different styles and collaborations.In the Drawing Room they talk about the history of the banjo, their different styles, and how working together has impacted their relationship.
Macquarie Bank is one of Australia's great success stories, with thousands of employees around the globe and a position at the top of the field when it comes to infrastructure asset management.And it's a company known for rewarding its employees.In their new book, The Millionaires' Factory, Joyce Moullakis and Chris Wright, talked to more than a hundred people to bring together an examination of the company's past and its future.
Christopher Makos first made his name capturing New York's music scene in the 1970s, as glam rock and punk brought a visual kick to the city.That scene led him to a long friendship and collaboration with Andy Warhol, and to a body of work that's been exhibited everywhere from the Guggenheim to the Whitney.Makos' work is part the Art Gallery of South Australia's exhibition, Andy Warhol and Photography: A Social Media, and in the Drawing Room he talks about Warhol, candlelit blackouts with Debbie Harry, and how he creates a sense of intimacy in his images.
In the town of Salem, a madness has swept the village and allegations of witchcraft, born of greed and vengeance, see the townsfolk brought before the court and hanged.The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a classic of the stage, both a telling of history and a parable for Miller's time, and perhaps our own.In the recent production of The Crucible by the London's National Theatre, Brendan Cowell takes on the role of John Proctor, and, in the Drawing Room, Cowell shares his own feelings on authority and the madness of the mob.
For more than a decade, the people of Roeburn, a small town in the Pilbara, have been coming together to create songs, stories and theatre.That work has led to a new album, Songs For Freedom, which is also a call to end the disproportionate levels of incarceration of Indigenous children.In the Drawing Room, Fred Ryan and Lucky Oceans talk about the lead single, prisons as a part of the community, and how they became part of the project.
Behind the imposing walls of Colditz Castle, during the second world war, hundreds of foreign officers were kept under lock and key.But despite the impressive facade, it wasn't the most successful prison: dozens of successful escapes were made by the prisoners there, and many more were attempted.The myth around the camp is of British derring-do, but the people in the camp were far more diverse than the legends suggest.In his new book, Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle, Ben Macintyre sets out to widen the narrative.
Michael Franti's music operates as a place of hope. His songs choose optimism over pessimism and reminds us that the world can be good, even when he's pointing out the big problems.His latest album, Follow Your Heart, comes in the wake of the challenges we all faced during Covid, but also the personal loss Michael experienced when his father passed.So how does a musician find hope in the dark moments and use it to uplift us all?
Reggie Watts is a beat-boxer and musician, using loops of his voice to craft live improvised works that sound like tracks from the best album you've never heard.He's also a comedian, one half of the electronica group Wajata, a television host, actor, and the bandleader on the Late Late Show with James Cordern.In the Drawing Room, Reggie talks about putting a band together, the power of absurdism, and how improv allows him to surprise everyone — even himself.
What Rhymes With Cars and Girls, Tim Rogers' first album away from You Am I, was a triumphant release that was eventually turned into a stage musical, and saw Tim pick up an ARIA Award.But it seems that Rogers has unfinished business.His new album with The Twin Set, Tines of Stars, Unfurled, is more than a sequel: it's an album in conversation with the original, with each song talking back to one of those earlier tracks.
Olympic Girls, the last album by New Zealand band Tiny Ruins, took them around the world and solidified Hollie Fullbrook's reputation as one of the best songwriters around.Now a new album, Ceremony, is on the way, and in the Drawing Room, Fullbrook shares the inspirations behind the record, and how she collaborated on a very unusual project with the novelist David Mitchell.
From The Go-Betweens to his own solo albums, Robert Forster is one of the great figures of Australian music.His latest album, The Candle and the Flame, is another triumph. It's also an intensely personal record, recorded in the wake of his wife's diagnosis with ovarian cancer.
The master of Australian Americana, Henry Wagons, has just released a new solo album, South of Everywhere, and is heading off to stages around the country.On RN Drive, Henry talks about finding inspiration after lockdown, LA writers rooms, and whether we need a better term for international flavours of Americana.
Sport is meant to be the healthiest thing in the world, and professional athletes operate at the top levels of fitness.So why do women at the top level face stress fractures at three times the rate of their male peers? And why is disordered eating so common among this cohort?Lauren Fleshman was a professional runner: a college phenomenon and a multiple-time National Champion in the 5000m race. Now, in her new book, Good For A Girl: A Woman Running In A Man's World, she looks back on her career, and examines what needs to change so that sport is healthy for women: in body and mind.
A professor of English at Harvard, a Pulitzer prize winner and a staff writer at The New Yorker, Louis Menand brings a careful eye to the big picture of history.In his latest book, The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War, he's looking back at a time when the US became the cultural force in the world — and at the figures who helped to shape that timeA professor of English at Harvard, a Pulitzer prize winner and a staff writer at The New Yorker, Louis Menand brings a careful eye to the big picture of history.In his latest book, The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War, he's looking back at a time when the US became the cultural force in the world — and at the figures who helped to shape that time
This is meant to be an age of amazing potential for artists. Global streaming promised access to huge audiences and self-publishing the potential for personal control.So why are artists earning less than they used to? And how have a smaller and smaller number of companies come to control the distribution of books, movies, and music?Rebecca Giblin is a professor at Melbourne Law School and the Director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia.Cory Doctorow is a best-selling author and activistTogether they're the authors of Chokepoint Capitalism, which looks at why these promises have never been realised, and what we can do to change the system.
Hannah Arendt was one of the foremost political theorists of the 20th Century.Perhaps best known for the phrase 'the banality of evil', Arendt wrote extensively on power, freedom, and the importance of individual action, and she remains a key figure of moral philosophy.In her book, Hannah Arendt, Samantha Rose Hill has taken a fresh and fascinating look back at Arendt's life and work. She's also published a collection of Arendt's poetry.Ahead of her appearance at Adelaide Writers Week, Hill talks about the importance of experience, the meaning of 'understanding', and Arendt's significant sense of humour.
With decades in the business and multiple Grammy nominations, Eric Bibb is one of the enduring voices of the blues — and what a voice.Over his latest two albums, Dear America and Ridin', he's looking at America and what it means to be a part of the history of that country.
What makes for a good ending? Of a work of art; of a career; of a life? And does the ending matter, if what's happened before it has been a grand success?Geoff Dyer has written about photography, jazz, travel, cinema, service and anything else that captures his attention, and taken home a bushel of prizes along the way.And in his latest work, The Last Days of Roger Federer, he's turned his eye to endings.
Aurora Mardiganian became a surprising sensation in America in the late 1910s. A survivor of the massacre and exile of the Armenian people, her story became a cause celebre and was turned into a movie: Auction of Souls.Following the first World War, President Wilson sought an American mandate for Armenia, but his plan was defeated in Congress and, shortly afterwards, copies of the film vanished.A new documentary, Aurora's Sunrise, uses recovered scenes from the film, archival testimony, and animation, to tell Aurora's story.Inna Sahakyan is the film's director and co-writer and in the Drawing Room she explores the story around the film, which won Best Animated Film at the Asian Pacific Screen Awards, and was the Armenian entry for the Oscars this year.
Tina Turner is a true superstar, with decades of hits, so what's it like to take to the stage and become the legend?Ruva Ngwenya has be playing the role of Tina Turner in the Australian production of the musical, Tina, and in the Drawing Room she talks high school musicals, training regimes, and channeling the spirit of Tina Turner
Simone Young is a world-renowned conductor who has led symphony orchestras and opera companies across the globe and shattered more than a few glass ceilings along the way.She's returned home as the chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and is the centre of a new documentary, Knowing The Score.In the Drawing Room, Simone discusses music, Tár, and what real life is actually like for one of the world's elite conductors.
When Michael Fabiano's music teacher, the legendary tenor George Shirley, told him he had a moral duty to share his voice, everything changed. Michael abandoned his plans for business or law and went home to map out in extraordinary detail what it would take to become one of the world's premiere opera singers.Now he's performing on the world's biggest stages, with a foundation that brings music education to a new generation.
Named as the Americana Music Emerging Act of the Year in 2021 — about the same time as his 8th release — Charley Crockett has built a career on his own terms.With a sound that recalls the greats of blues, folk and country music, and a personal story better than any song could contain, it's no surprise that he's getting people's attention.
Being one of the best in the world at what you do is an almost impossible goal. And maintaining that position is the work of a lifetime.Australian born Connor O'Leary is one of the top surfers in the world, but he's had to prove his skill many times, fighting for qualification to the sport's Championship TourHis journey is one of the stories at the centre of a new documentary series, Chasing Waves, which explores the Japanese connection to surfing, in the wake of the 2021 Olympics.
Beginning life as a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, then an Oscar-winning film, The Hours tells the story of three women, separated by time, but connected by Virginia Woolf's book Mrs Dalloway.Now, the story has its own third life: as an opera.Presented by New York's Metropolitan Opera, the production was composed by another Pulitzer Prize winner, Kevin Puts, and is now heading to screens as part of their HD Live series.
She's photographed the rich and famous, worked with Nick Cave over the decades and even taken Queen Elizabeth's portrait.But after stepping away from commercial portraiture, Polly Borland has produced her most interesting work, exploring the human body in abstract and sometimes unsettling ways that have seen her exhibited around the world.In her latest collection, Nudie and Blobs, Borland has turned the lens on herself, with abstract selfies of her own body taken with a mobile phone and a selfie stick.
Across Australia, down suburban alleyways or in the heart of the cities, are dozens of small theatres.They work without the budgets or the recognition of the big state companies, but that means they can take risks and give a home to unusual and emerging Australian voices.For five decades, Liz Jones has been working with the legendary La Mama Theatre in Melbourne, and for most of that time she's been the artistic director. Now, she's finally calling time on the role, leaving a thriving theatre and a remarkable legacy.
"The first rule of a cult is that you are never in a cult. It's always them, not us."So writes Daniella Mestyanek Young: former military intelligence officer; combat veteran; and survivor of a childhood spent growing up in the Children of God: isolated from the outside world in compounds across South America.In the Drawing Room, Daniella shares her remarkable story and why she decided to tell it in a new memoir, Uncultured.
With sumptuous design and a clever use of modern pop songs, Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge was a tremendous success, consolidating his reputation after Romeo and Juliet.
Almost two decades later, the stage musical, based on that film, created its own legend: packing out its Broadway theatre and winning 10 Tony Awards.
Justin Levine is the show's music supervisor, orchestrator and arranger, and in the Drawing Room he explains how he put the pieces together.
A leader in the work that led to the detection of gravitational waves, Distinguished Professor Susan Scott is one of the world's leading physicists.
A childhood interest in mathematics and gravity has led to remarkable discoveries around black holes and neutron stars.
Distinguished Professor Scott has become the first Australian to win the prestigious Blaise Pascal Medal, and the first Australian to be elected as a Fellow of the International Society on General Relativity.
In the Drawing Room, she shares her path to science and what it felt like to see the result of decades of work.
The Seekers were perhaps the first Australian band to truly capture the world stage, even dislodging The Beatles and The Rolling Stones from their positions at the top of the charts.
In the Drawing Room, founding member Keith Potger looks back on the last sixty years, the personal losses of 2022, and the band's final song together, Carry Me.
Sir Andrew Davis is one of the most highly regarded conductors in the world, with a career spanning decades and taking in a number of the leading opera companies and orchestras.
He's so well regarded in fact, that orchestras just can't let him go: he's the conductor laureate at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
In the Drawing Room he talks about crafting his own take on Handel's Messiah and finding comfort in translating Virgil's Aeneid.
We all know the classic pieces of orchestral music, the Stravinskys, the Beethovens, and the Bachs; music that has stood the test of time and been performed on stages across the world.
But how does a composer, working today, begin to join those ranks and hear their work come to life on stage?
In the Drawing Room, composer Leah Curtis and conductor Jessica Cottis talk about their paths to music and the debut of Leah's new composition, Infinite Possibilities.
For more than a decade, Sharon Van Etten has been winning over fans across the world with her beautiful voice and raw, emotional songs.
Her journey has taken her from New York to California, with a stop at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks along the way and her new album, We've Been Going About This All Wrong, is music for our times: reflecting on the darkness, but with a spark of hope.
In the Drawing Room, Sharon talks about finding a community in California, reflects on the joys of touring with friends, and pays tribute to Low's Mimi Parker.
Is money a means to an end for you or a goal in itself?
And, if you're worried that you might not always be making the best decisions when it comes to your finances, is it possible to change?
Evan Lucas is the chief market strategist at InvestSMART, and in his new book, Mind Over Money, he's looking at how we can learn about ourselves and our investments.
In the Drawing Room, Evan talks about the nature of time, the challenges of envy, and why it's important to see the whole elephant.
In May last year, the Taliban once again took control of Afghanistan, following the withdrawal of US military forces.
The regime promised to respect women's rights, but the reality has been a return to earlier restrictions: on jobs, study and basic human rights.
In 2001, the Canadian author Deborah Ellis wrote the first book in her Breadwinner series, which introduced readers to Parvana, a young Afghan girl, and her struggles to overcome her place in society.
This year, Deb is taking us back to Afghanistan where an adult Parvana and her family must escape once more.
An icon of the art world, and the creator of the now famous Secret Garden at Lavender Bay in Sydney, Wendy Whiteley has led a remarkable life.
The former wife of Brett Whiteley, she inspired and influenced his work and became responsible for his legacy.
But in his new book, A year With Wendy Whiteley, Ashleigh Wilson is interested in Wendy's life and legacy, captured over hours of intimate conversations at her home.
Spencer Tunick's artwork is a mass event, drawing together thousands to pose unclothed in the public space.
And whether it becomes an almost abstract landscape or a very human statement of defiance, the end result is a remarkable collection of photographs that outlive that initial moment and are displayed in galleries across the world.
In the Drawing Room, he talks about his latest work, a collaboration with Skin Check Champions on a beach in Sydney, which is using fine art to draw attention to skin cancer.
What do the objects of our past tell us about Australia and the way in which we saw each other? And how can art change our perspective on those objects and on our shared history.
Tony Albert is a leading contemporary artist, who has used his collection of 'Aboriginalia' as the foundation for much of his work, reclaiming those depictions and engaging with the complications of the past.
Tony was a founding member of the proppaNOW collective, which was recently awarded the Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice, and his work appears in major galleries across the country.
In the Drawing Room, Tony speaks about his path to art and his latest exhibition, Remark.
The friends we make in childhood can remain with us for life. They become the people who have known us through thick and thin, and lift us up when things are down.
But, in a world of polarised politics, is it possible to hang on to friendships that are based on the innocence of youth?
Best Of Friends, the new novel by Kamila Shamsie follows Zhara and Maryam across two parts of their lives: the end of the dictatorship in Pakistan, when the girls are 14, and the adult women they become in London, decades later.
Bryce Courtenay was one of the most successful writers Australia has ever known, a high-profile ad executive who turned to fiction late and became synonymous with the term best-seller in this country.
But how did a man who grew up struggling and once said, in a letter to his mother, that "Writing to me means mostly slow drudgery and hard work", become a force of fiction?
His wife Christine Courtney is telling his story in a new biography, Bryce Courtenay: Storyteller.
"Whatever feeling Beethoven is expressing, he is expressing it with all of his being."
So says Jonathan Biss about the 'phenomenal intensity' that first drew him to the composer as a young boy.
These days, Biss is a celebrated pianist, performing across the world and commissioning work inspired by Beethoven.
In the Drawing Room, he shares the joys and the tribulations that music has brought him throughout his life.
Between pandemics, politics, inflation and the daily stresses of life, there can be a lot to worry about these days.
But why is a particular situation stressful for some of us, and easier for others?
And how do we look after our mental well-being?
Professor Ian Hickie and James O'Loghlin share their expertise in a new book, Minding the Mind.
Between pandemics, politics, inflation and the daily stresses of life, there can be a lot to worry about these days.
But why is a particular situation stressful for some of us, and easier for others?
And how do we look after our mental well-being?
Professor Ian Hickie and James O'Loghlin share their expertise in a new book, Minding the Mind.
From the summits of Australia to some of the remotest peaks in the world David Neilson has spent his life exploring and capturing photos of natural beauty.
His work has appeared in books and museums and even on a set of stamps.
In his latest book, Chasing the Mountain Light, he's taking a look back at his own life and adventures.
From the summits of Australia to some of the remotest peaks in the world David Neilson has spent his life exploring and capturing photos of natural beauty.
His work has appeared in books and museums and even on a set of stamps.
In his latest book, Chasing the Mountain Light, he's taking a look back at his own life and adventures.
From attacks on voters rights to tobacco companies denying responsibility for their products, every controversial lawsuit has one thing in common: lawyers, fighting on their client's behalf.
After all, the right to counsel is a central plank of the legal system. If you are accused of a crime, you will be represented by someone who knows the law.
But as the world's biggest law firms have grown larger and more powerful, has their success changed their relationship with politics and the law?
David Enrich is the business investigations editor at the New York Times, and in his new book, Servants of the Damned, he looks at the power these firms wield and explores how they came to wield it.
From attacks on voters rights to tobacco companies denying responsibility for their products, every controversial lawsuit has one thing in common: lawyers, fighting on their client's behalf.
After all, the right to counsel is a central plank of the legal system. If you are accused of a crime, you will be represented by someone who knows the law.
But as the world's biggest law firms have grown larger and more powerful, has their success changed their relationship with politics and the law?
David Enrich is the business investigations editor at the New York Times, and in his new book, Servants of the Damned, he looks at the power these firms wield and explores how they came to wield it.
Jacob Boehme has been a dancer, a writer, and an artistic director, creating everything from intimate theatre to the opening ceremonies for major sporting events.
But what role does a garden play in his latest work? And how has Australia's appetite for First Nations stories changed during his time in the business?
Boehme is the inaugural director of First Nations programs at Carriageworks in Sydney, and in the Drawing Room he discusses his new event: Party | Protest | Remember.
Jacob Boehme has been a dancer, a writer, and an artistic director, creating everything from intimate theatre to the opening ceremonies for major sporting events.
But what role does a garden play in his latest work? And how has Australia's appetite for First Nations stories changed during his time in the business?
Boehme is the inaugural director of First Nations programs at Carriageworks in Sydney, and in the Drawing Room he discusses his new event: Party | Protest | Remember.
"When people ask: how did you go from that to this? I want to say: I knew how to forget."
So says the critic, writer and academic, Shannon Burns, who details the neglect, violence of poverty of his youth in his memoir, Childhood.
In the Drawing Room, Shannon talks about the desire for escape and what it means to forget or to remember our past.
"When people ask: how did you go from that to this? I want to say: I knew how to forget."
So says the critic, writer and academic, Shannon Burns, who details the neglect, violence of poverty of his youth in his memoir, Childhood.
In the Drawing Room, Shannon talks about the desire for escape and what it means to forget or to remember our past.
Climate change, and what to do about it, has been a central political debate in Australia for more than a decade.
The election of the Teal candidates, alongside Labor and the Greens, at the last Federal election, suggest that voters want action, but what will action mean for the country and the economy.
Ross Garnaut is a distinguished economist and a key advisor to previous governments on climate change policy.
And in his latest book as contributing editor, The Superpower Transformation, he explores the possibilities that exist for Australia as it transitions to a net-zero economy.
Climate change, and what to do about it, has been a central political debate in Australia for more than a decade.
The election of the Teal candidates, alongside Labor and the Greens, at the last Federal election, suggest that voters want action, but what will action mean for the country and the economy.
Ross Garnaut is a distinguished economist and a key advisor to previous governments on climate change policy.
And in his latest book as contributing editor, The Superpower Transformation, he explores the possibilities that exist for Australia as it transitions to a net-zero economy.
When David Farrier heard about a parking dispute at an antiques store in Auckland, he thought it would result in one quirky article and then he'd be on to the next story. Instead, it consumed 5 years of his life.
The final result of that time is Mister Organ, an unusual documentary about a man who has claimed to be royalty, pretended to be a lawyer, and appears to have left a trail of damaged people in his wake.
In the Drawing Room, David talks about how the film ended up taking on a life of its own.
When David Farrier heard about a parking dispute at an antiques store in Auckland, he thought it would result in one quirky article and then he'd be on to the next story. Instead, it consumed 5 years of his life.
The final result of that time is Mister Organ, an unusual documentary about a man who has claimed to be royalty, pretended to be a lawyer, and appears to have left a trail of damaged people in his wake.
In the Drawing Room, David talks about how the film ended up taking on a life of its own.
Long before the Lonely Planet writers, long before missionaries, adventurers, or even the Crusaders — the Muslim travelers of the Islamic Golden Age, traveled the roads of the early kingdoms, holding to the Quranic commandment "Go about the earth and look".
They were curious, prized practical geography but also embraced storytelling in the most wonderful way: the poet and traveller Abu Dular said "My adventurous soul finds peace in alien things, not in the comfort of the known world".
When broadcaster Richard Fidler was himself unable to find peace in alien things due to the pandemic, his adventurous soul took him into these historical records, piecing together a picture of that lost world.
And in the Drawing Room, Richard talks about his resulting book, The Book of Roads and Kingdoms.
Long before the Lonely Planet writers, long before missionaries, adventurers, or even the Crusaders — the Muslim travelers of the Islamic Golden Age, traveled the roads of the early kingdoms, holding to the Quranic commandment "Go about the earth and look".
They were curious, prized practical geography but also embraced storytelling in the most wonderful way: the poet and traveller Abu Dular said "My adventurous soul finds peace in alien things, not in the comfort of the known world".
When broadcaster Richard Fidler was himself unable to find peace in alien things due to the pandemic, his adventurous soul took him into these historical records, piecing together a picture of that lost world.
And in the Drawing Room, Richard talks about his resulting book, The Book of Roads and Kingdoms.
In Dos Estaciones, the new film by Juan Pablo González, a tequila factory in the highlands of Mexico becomes the scene of a slow moving crisis.
Maria, the owner of the factory, battles plagues, floods, and debts as she attempts to hang on to the business and her place in society.
But against the power of nature and big business, is there any chance for history to survive?
In the Drawing Room, Juan talks about his own family's history with Tequila, the impact of NAFTA, and how his background in documentary shaped this film.
In Dos Estaciones, the new film by Juan Pablo González, a tequila factory in the highlands of Mexico becomes the scene of a slow moving crisis.
Maria, the owner of the factory, battles plagues, floods, and debts as she attempts to hang on to the business and her place in society.
But against the power of nature and big business, is there any chance for history to survive?
In the Drawing Room, Juan talks about his own family's history with Tequila, the impact of NAFTA, and how his background in documentary shaped this film.
What did the strategists, the analysts and the political leaders make of the 2022 Federal election?
And what did the result mean for the country, and for the future of our major parties?
In the Drawing Room, Peter Van Onselen shares some of the conversations he's had with the key players since the election, and talks about his new book, Victory.
What did the strategists, the analysts and the political leaders make of the 2022 Federal election?
And what did the result mean for the country, and for the future of our major parties?
In the Drawing Room, Peter Van Onselen shares some of the conversations he's had with the key players since the election, and talks about his new book, Victory.
Founded in New Zealand at the end of the 1960s by an Australian preacher, the Gloriavale Christian Community is home to around 600 people.
Led by a small group of 'shepherds', members are isolated from outside society and ex-communication means exile from the community, and your own family.
Allegations of exploitation, sexual abuse, corruption and human rights violations have led to multiple lawsuits against the community, which—at this point—remains a registered charity.
In the Drawing Room, director Fergus Grady talks about his new documentary, Gloriavale, co-created with Noel Smyth, and introduces the community and the people fighting back against it.
Founded in New Zealand at the end of the 1960s by an Australian preacher, the Gloriavale Christian Community is home to around 600 people.
Led by a small group of 'shepherds', members are isolated from outside society and ex-communication means exile from the community, and your own family.
Allegations of exploitation, sexual abuse, corruption and human rights violations have led to multiple lawsuits against the community, which—at this point—remains a registered charity.
In the Drawing Room, director Fergus Grady talks about his new documentary, Gloriavale, co-created with Noel Smyth, and introduces the community and the people fighting back against it.
Revenge, love, and betrayal are the classic themes of opera: an art known for its grand emotions.
But what sort of grand emotion does it take to seek revenge on Attila, one of the greatest warlords the world has ever known.
In a new production of Verdi's Attila, the setting has been moved to 1930s, but the fierce Odabella remains set on the death of the king.
Natalie Aroyan is a principal artist with Opera Australia and in the Drawing Room she talks about taking on the role of Odabella.
Revenge, love, and betrayal are the classic themes of opera: an art known for its grand emotions.
But what sort of grand emotion does it take to seek revenge on Attila, one of the greatest warlords the world has ever known.
In a new production of Verdi's Attila, the setting has been moved to 1930s, but the fierce Odabella remains set on the death of the king.
Natalie Aroyan is a principal artist with Opera Australia and in the Drawing Room she talks about taking on the role of Odabella.
Last year, the documentary maker Matthew Heineman was embedded with a special forces unit in Afghanistan.
He expected to spend months filming them on their missions in that country. Instead, after Joe Biden announced the US was finally withdrawing, the troops had ten days to pull out, and Matthew needed to decide whether he had a film.
The end result, Retrograde, documents the withdrawal, the struggles of the Afghan army in the aftermath, and the final shocking moments of escape at the airport of Kabul.
Last year, the documentary maker Matthew Heineman was embedded with a special forces unit in Afghanistan.
He expected to spend months filming them on their missions in that country. Instead, after Joe Biden announced the US was finally withdrawing, the troops had ten days to pull out, and Matthew needed to decide whether he had a film.
The end result, Retrograde, documents the withdrawal, the struggles of the Afghan army in the aftermath, and the final shocking moments of escape at the airport of Kabul.
We like to think that we define our own lives, but each of us is part of a family, a lineage, a place in history; we have our health and our mental health and each of those play a role in who we are and the decisions that we make.
Jonathan Seidler's new memoir, It's a Shame About Ray, looks at the forces that have shaped his life, none stronger than his father, a successful doctor and loving family man, who took his own life.
In the Drawing Room, Jonathan talks about growing up and grief, mental health and nu-metal music.
We like to think that we define our own lives, but each of us is part of a family, a lineage, a place in history; we have our health and our mental health and each of those play a role in who we are and the decisions that we make.
Jonathan Seidler's new memoir, It's a Shame About Ray, looks at the forces that have shaped his life, none stronger than his father, a successful doctor and loving family man, who took his own life.
In the Drawing Room, Jonathan talks about growing up and grief, mental health and nu-metal music.
What does it mean to look at Hong Kong as a local? To acknowledge the weight of history amid the current struggles for independence.
Blue Island, the new film by Chan Tze-Woon blurs the lines between documentary and re-enactment, between past and present, and uses cinema to interrogate what it means to be part of Hong Kong.
What does it mean to look at Hong Kong as a local? To acknowledge the weight of history amid the current struggles for independence.
Blue Island, the new film by Chan Tze-Woon blurs the lines between documentary and re-enactment, between past and present, and uses cinema to interrogate what it means to be part of Hong Kong.
Mohawks, piercings, studs, and boots: when the punk rock scene first started in Australia, the symbols were as loud as the music.
It was a rejection of authority; a challenge to the conservative politicians and police, who pushed back hard.
But it was also a community, a generation of activists, and a scene that left a lasting musical legacy.
In her debut feature documentary, Age of Rage, Jennifer Ross has taken a look back at the Australian punk scene of the 1980s and 1990s.
Mohawks, piercings, studs, and boots: when the punk rock scene first started in Australia, the symbols were as loud as the music.
It was a rejection of authority; a challenge to the conservative politicians and police, who pushed back hard.
But it was also a community, a generation of activists, and a scene that left a lasting musical legacy.
In her debut feature documentary, Age of Rage, Jennifer Ross has taken a look back at the Australian punk scene of the 1980s and 1990s.
Over a decade of writing, recording, releasing and touring, Big Scary gathered an enviable reputation, building to critical acclaim and the commercial success of their 2016 album, Animal.
The band stepped off the relentless treadmill of the music industry for a time, but last year they announced their return with the synth-led Daisy, and they've quickly followed that up with the new album, Me and You.
In the Drawing Room, Tom Iansek and Jo Syme chat about growing up, gaining confidence, and freedom as a mark of success.
Over a decade of writing, recording, releasing and touring, Big Scary gathered an enviable reputation, building to critical acclaim and the commercial success of their 2016 album, Animal.
The band stepped off the relentless treadmill of the music industry for a time, but last year they announced their return with the synth-led Daisy, and they've quickly followed that up with the new album, Me and You.
In the Drawing Room, Tom Iansek and Jo Syme chat about growing up, gaining confidence, and freedom as a mark of success.
When Douglas Rushkoff was invited to speak at an exclusive retreat, he prepared for questions like 'Bitcoin or Ethereum?'. What he wasn't expecting to be asked was "How do I maintain authority over my security force after 'the event'?"
War, disease, climate change, societal collapse, whatever it was that would signal the end of society, these men wanted his opinions on the best ways to survive and thrive in the aftermath.
And that got him thinking about why some of the most privileged men in the world were expecting everything to come crashing down.
In the Drawing Room, Douglas chats about the problems with eternal growth, finding what really matters, and his latest book Survival of the Richest.
When Douglas Rushkoff was invited to speak at an exclusive retreat, he prepared for questions like 'Bitcoin or Ethereum?'. What he wasn't expecting to be asked was "How do I maintain authority over my security force after 'the event'?"
War, disease, climate change, societal collapse, whatever it was that would signal the end of society, these men wanted his opinions on the best ways to survive and thrive in the aftermath.
And that got him thinking about why some of the most privileged men in the world were expecting everything to come crashing down.
In the Drawing Room, Douglas chats about the problems with eternal growth, finding what really matters, and his latest book Survival of the Richest.
How does the place we live in shape the way we live? And does the built environment define our roles within the home, and our relationship to the people and the world outside of it?
Tatiana Bilbao is a prize-winning architect and in her installation piece at the NGV, she examines the communal washing spaces that were once common, and how modern society has hidden the impact of domestic work.
How does the place we live in shape the way we live? And does the built environment define our roles within the home, and our relationship to the people and the world outside of it?
Tatiana Bilbao is a prize-winning architect and in her installation piece at the NGV, she examines the communal washing spaces that were once common, and how modern society has hidden the impact of domestic work.
Honor Eastly's ABC podcast, No Feeling Is Final, was a searingly honest examination of mental health and her search for answers to the big questions: of what it means to feel helpless and why we should strive to stay alive.
It went on to spark conversations and win awards around the world, and Honor became a key advisor to the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System.
Now, No Feeling is Final is taking on a new form: as a live stage show. In the Drawing Room, Honor and her sister, Amy Haywood, talk about the show and how their own relationship has changed since the podcast was released.
Honor Eastly's ABC podcast, No Feeling Is Final, was a searingly honest examination of mental health and her search for answers to the big questions: of what it means to feel helpless and why we should strive to stay alive.
It went on to spark conversations and win awards around the world, and Honor became a key advisor to the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System.
Now, No Feeling is Final is taking on a new form: as a live stage show. In the Drawing Room, Honor and her sister, Amy Haywood, talk about the show and how their own relationship has changed since the podcast was released.
Premiering at the Cannes film festival earlier this year, Thomas M Wright's sophomore film, The Stranger, is inspired by a real act of unthinkable violence, but isn't a movie about the violence itself.
Instead it examines the cost of befriending a man you believe to be a killer, in the service of bringing him to justice.
In the Drawing Room, Wright talks about good and evil, darkness and light, and the cost of telling stories.
Premiering at the Cannes film festival earlier this year, Thomas M Wright's sophomore film, The Stranger, is inspired by a real act of unthinkable violence, but isn't a movie about the violence itself.
Instead it examines the cost of befriending a man you believe to be a killer, in the service of bringing him to justice.
In the Drawing Room, Wright talks about good and evil, darkness and light, and the cost of telling stories.
For millennia, people have sought out the finest scents, first exploring nearby lands and eventually creating trade routes which spanned the globe.
But what repels or attracts us so strongly to a particular smell?
And if you had to describe the scent of a rose, could you do better than calling it 'rosey' or 'floral'?
In the Drawing Room, Elise Pearlstine explains the science, the stories, and the language of scent.
History has many layers and, often, underneath a simple surface, is a deep and complicated past.
That is perhaps especially true in Australia, where the tens of thousands of years before colonisation can be obscured by more recent events.
In their new exhibition together, the red thread of history, loose ends, renowned Australian artists Judy Watson and Helen Johnson take to the canvas to investigate the continent's past and their own reaction to it.
What does it mean to be part of a community? And to what extent are we defined by our relationships?
In the Drawing Room, Sally Olds takes us from largely forgotten fraternal orders to the communal experience of a nightclub, explores post-work politics and polyamory and discusses her new collection of essays, People Who Lunch.
In 2020, ASIO revealed that up to 40% of its counter-terrorism caseload involved far-right extremists.
Meanwhile, in countries like America, Norway and New Zealand, shocking attacks have been perpetrated by men with manifestos. And while these attacks are usually described as 'lone-wolf' events, there are similarities in the goals and beliefs that drive them.
So what has driven this rise in extreme beliefs and in violence across so many different parts of the world?
In the Drawing Room, Lydia Khalil examines those questions and talks about her book, Rise of the Extreme Right.
'Instill me with a greater sense of compassion so that I can be liberated'
It was this line in Avinu Malkeinuan, a Jewish hymn, which spoke to singer-songwriter Lior and led him to perform it at a tribute to the son of composer Nigel Westlake.
That chance meeting led to something remarkable, a song cycle called Compassion, which combines beautiful music with ancient Jewish and Arabic texts.
Dr Lachlan McIver has found himself fighting for the lives of his patients all over the world: from a remote medical clinic, where a headlamp normally used to avoid snakes provided the light for a surgery, to the biggest cities, where he advocates for action about the health impacts of climate change.
Lachlan is the tropical diseases and planetary health advisor at Médecins Sans Frontières, and in the Drawing Room, he shares his expertise and the remarkable moments of community and survival he's seen throughout his career.
The stories that we see on our stages entertain us, but they also reflect our world and help us to understand who we are and who we can be.
So what does it mean to be in charge of those stories? To help shape the conversation and that sense of self?
As the new artistic director at the Melbourne Theatre Company, Anne-Louise Sarks is in that rare and privileged position.
In the Drawing Room, Anne-Louise shares her path to the stage.
Georgie Stone is an actor and an activist who has received the Medal of the Order of Australia and became the first openly trans actor on Neighbours.
But before all of that, Georgie was a young girl who had to fight for the right to live her own life and who carried others with her along the way.
In the Drawing Room, Georgie and director Maya Newell discuss the new documentary, The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone, and share their perspectives on filmmaking and life.
Stories can transport us to times and places we never imagined, opening up perspectives beyond our own.
But, by and large, literature tends to focus on the human experience.
Chris Flynn's latest collection, Here Be Leviathans, takes a very different approach. Over nine stories, Chris gives a voice to the world around us, with narrators including a bear, a river, a platypus and a hotel room.
When Nicola Harvey left her high-powered job in the media in Sydney to take on a small cattle farm in New Zealand, she had little idea what she was getting into.
And as she and her husband slowly developed their skills, they realised that the typical goals of commercial farms—centered around efficiency and exports—didn't match what they wanted from life or the land.
So, from land management to waste use, they sought out ways to let the business match their ideals, and along the way discovered a different approach to farming, which merges tradition with technology.
In the Drawing Room, Nicola shares her experience and talks about her new book, Farm: the making of a climate activist.
Sophie Cunningham has been involved with every part of writing in this country, from her celebrated works of fiction and non-fiction, to her work as an editor, publisher and even co-founder of the Stella Prize.
Her latest work is This Devastating Fever — a deeply inventive novel that examines the life of Leonard Woolf and his wife, the much more celebrated Virginia, as well as the Bloomsbury set of which they were a part.
Across countries and across centuries, something is going wrong and reality seems fragile.
Bombs are exploding and the people responsible are left confused and uncertain, until a man with mismatched eyes appears and asks them to hold a black stone sphere.
Psalms for the End of the World is a kaleidoscopic debut novel by Cole Haddon, and in the Drawing Room, he talks about David Bowie and the importance of questions.
The Dandy Warhols swept to global fame in the late 90s with singles like Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth and Bohemian Like You.
Over the last two decades, they’ve gone on to create an enduring and unusual catalogue: albums that vary in sound and style, but always have the same creativity and wit.
In the Drawing Room, Courtney Taylor-Taylor chats about wine bars, inspirational cars and DIY venues.
The films of Peter Strickland exist in a world slightly off-kilter from our own, but which feel perfectly alive; even if the dresses are deadly and sound studios are dangerous territory.
His latest, Flux Gourmet, introduces audiences to a group of sonic caterers: sound artists who use food as their instruments.
Led by the controlling force of Elle di Elle, the unnamed band have taken up a prestigious residency at an art institute. But close quarters can lead to unexpected tensions.
What is it like to represent your country on the biggest stage? To become part of a tradition that is far bigger than yourself?
The All Blacks are one of the most successful teams in world sport and former captain Richie McCaw is one of their very best.
In the Drawing Room, Richie shares his experiences on and off the field.
In a small town, a young man wakes up to find a different person staring back in the mirror. His skin, once white, has darkened overnight to a 'deep and undeniable brown' and he no longer recognises himself.
At first it seems a unique event, a solitary and individual metamorphosis. But slowly, news spreads: one case becomes several; several becomes many.
And, faced with the prospect of change, society becomes uncertain and fractures.
In the Drawing Room, the award-winning author Mohsin Hamid discusses his new novel, The Last White Man, and how reality forms and changes.
When a young girl from a large Catholic family is sent away for the Summer to live on the farm of relatives that she barely knows, she finds the kindness and attention that allows her to blossom and begin to find her voice.
The Quiet Girl, based on a short story by Claire Keegan, is set in Ireland and presents the world from the perspective of the child, with a brilliant debut by Catherine Clinch.
In the Drawing Room, the director, Colm Bairéad, discusses the film and how he chose to tackle big ideas of love and loss with a gentle hand.
The tradition of choral music reaches back through centuries, voices rising in unison to meet across time as well as across the octaves. So what does it mean to chart your own path within that tradition?
Eric Whiteacre is a Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor, and his work The Sacred Veil was inspired by poetry written by Eric’s collaborator Charles Anthony Silvestri, after the loss of Silvestri's wife to cancer.
Eternal Nightcap, by The Whitlams, was a surprise hit, swimming as it did against the popular tide of guitar rock and house music in Australia at the time. But not only did it launch the band to national attention, it inspired a new generation of Australian artists.
In the Drawing Room, Tim Freedman looks back at the album on its 25th anniversary and explains why he's returned to the recording studio after an extended break.
It's been twenty years since George released their debut album Polyserena to massive acclaim, becoming a sort of six year overnight sensation.
Since then, sibling stars Katie and Tyrone Noonan have gone on to other projects, but in the Drawing Room they're returning to where it all began, talking about the triumphs of youth and the strangeness of success.
Over the last few years, we have seen a cascade of governance failures in companies around the world. CEOs and board chairs have been removed and questions raised around probity and community expectations.
Fred Hilmer has held leadership positions in many leading Australian companies, and has written extensively on what the role of a board can and should be. In the Drawing Room he examines the problems and solutions of governance in business and his new book, What's Wrong With Boards.
For thirteen years, Lyndon Terracini has seen Opera Australia through good times and bad: handling the aftermath of the GFC and the recent lockdowns, while expanding the company's stages to include huge performances on the harbour and a digital platform.
And now, as he approaches his final year as artistic director, it's time to take stock.
In the Drawing Room, Lyndon recounts his own path onto the stage and explains how the constant phone calls during Covid led to one of his favourite productions in his finale with the company.
One of the foremost Shakespearean actors and directors of our time, John Bell has brought the words of the bard to stages across Australia, and was the founding Artistic Director of Bell Shakespeare.
In a new show, One Man in His Time, Bell is looking back at the works of Shakespeare: what they teach us; why they've endured; and their impact on his own life.
Tenzin Choegyal is one of the world's leading Tibetan musicians, fusing the traditions of nomadic musical culture with his own contemporary style.
He's worked with the luminaries of the musical world, has been nominated for a Grammy and even performed for the Dalai Lama.
In the Drawing Room, Tenzin shares the sounds of his youth and his reminiscences of Archie Roach.
The Phantom of the Opera is one of the most successful shows of all time: a mammoth piece of musical theatre that swiftly became part of the cultural zeitgeist and ended up as the longest running musical in Broadway history.
So how do you bring a production of that scale to the stage and keep it running? And what brings audience members back time-and-time again?
Seth Sklar-Heyn, the associate director of the new Australian tour, has been involved with the show for many years, and in the Drawing Room he shares the ideas behind the updated production and why explains why the staff doors at Disneyland started his own path to the theatre.
When a crime occurs, it leaves behind questions. We search for an understanding: the who, the what, and the how. But for journalists the biggest question is often why?
In the Drawing Room, Patrick Radden Keefe and Kate McClymont share their experiences reporting on cons: how to manage a source; whether empathy is possible; and what to do when your subject offers you a job.
The 'unicorn' is the great prize of startups: a privately held company valued at more than one billion dollars. Building a unicorn doesn't just make fortunes, it makes legends.
But, like the name suggests, those remarkable stories of success are few and far between, and not without their share of risk.
David Shein founded perhaps Australia's first unicorn—Com Tech—and has gone on to become a venture capitalist, helping other companies find their own success.
In the Drawing Room, David shares the wisdom he's learnt from his years in business, and talks about his book, The Dumbest Guy at the Table.
Pankaj Mishra is a celebrated thinker and essayist writing on politics, literature, and philosophy for many of the world's best papers and magazines.
But it was fiction where he made his name, and, this year, Mishra has returned to that form with his first novel in two decades: Run and Hide.
The book follows the story of Arun, the child of a relatively poor regional family who escapes his upbringing through academic excellence, but rarely seems at peace with his place in the world.
It looks at India's present through its recent past and explores the way we're shaped by our own experience, even when we'd rather set the past aside.
Aftersun is a remarkable debut feature: a story of family and memory; of looking back and coming-of-age.
In a Turkish beachside resort, somewhere in the 1990s, 11 year-old Sophie and her dad, Calum, are spending the holidays together, ahead of his 31st birthday.
They have the casual, easy affection of a pair that genuinely likes each other, but under the attentive and loving exterior, we see hints of the darkness that Calum is grappling with.
In the Drawing Room, the film's writer and director Charlotte Wells discusses personal inspiration, trusting the audience, and recreating the 90s.
Leonor was once a big deal in the film industry in the Philippines, creating the sort of action movies that were once turned out by the hundreds each year.
When a freak accident leaves her in a coma, Leonor finds herself in one of her own films, walking in on sex scenes and pre-empting the lines before a fight.
Leonor Will Never Die melds independent modern cinema with classic Filipino action and creates something entirely unique.
Martika Ramirez Escobar is the film's writer and director and in the Drawing Room, she speaks about the story behind her debut feature.
Science fiction invites us to imagine the universe as it could be, and to find our place in it. "To boldly go," as one show put it.
In a 1968 episode of Star Trek, the writers dreamt up a new engine called an ion engine, a fanciful form of propulsion.
Some years later NASA, inspired by Star Trek, decided to prototype the engine and it worked. It's often quoted as an example of science fiction inspiring science.
These days, Dr Brad Tucker and Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker are highly regarded scientists: experts in their fields of astrophysics and radio-astronomy.
But once upon a time, they were young people, wondering what their future would hold.
In the Drawing Room, they share their inspirations and the way it impacts their work today.
You don't have to look far in the political news to find a story about mates doing favours for mates.
But while some cases of political mateship reach the front page, many of them slide through in the grey area of 'how things work'.
But are backroom favours and a revolving door between regulators and the industries they govern really a natural part of doing business?
Rigged, by Cameron K Murray and Paul Frijters looks at the game of mates in Australia and sets out to explain the cost.
Across a remarkable body of work, Carlos Reygadas has built a reputation as one of the more intriguing directors working today: celebrated around the world, including at Cannes, where he has received the best director award.
Natalia López Gallardo's debut, Robe of Gems, is gathering similar compliments, garnering critical acclaim and winning the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival.
Natalia and Carlos have worked together across a number of films and in the Drawing Room they discuss their philosophies about the role of cinema.
When the young daughter of a merchant sets sail on the Batavia to join her father, she's excited by everything around her: the nimble sailors, the giant soldier, the colours and sounds of the ship.
But anyone with a knowledge of the history will know that this story isn't going to end well. The story of The Batavia is one of horror: shipwreck, treacher,y murder and enslavement.
The Night Ship, the new novel by Jess Kidd, takes that history and crafts something new, moving between the distant and recent past, as the stories of two lonely children connect across the centuries.
What does it mean to be without a past? To have your connection to history taken away?
During the 20th Century, hundreds of thousands of children—some Australian born, some migrants—were placed in institutions or out-of-home care in Australia.
In 2009, then Prime Minister Keven Rudd made a formal apology to these Forgotten Australians, and pledged to stop it from happening again.
In their new show Sleeplessness, Kaz Therese explores what it means to be one of those familes and tells the story of their past through the fragments of history that remain.
Nature, we are often taught, is one giant competition: kill or be killed; survival of the fittest. But have we missed the forest for the trees?
As we learn more about the environment around us, we are finding complex layers of cooperation that allow the world to survive and to thrive.
Kristin Ohlson is an award winning writer, and in her latest book, Sweet in Tooth and Claw, Kristin looks at this changing understanding of nature and our own place within it.
Seen from the outside, the archipelago of Palawan is a place of amazing natural beauty, with remarkable forests and pristine beaches.
But Delikado, the new documentary by Karl Malakunas, exposes a darker truth: a province that is described as ‘eating itself up from the inside’.
The movie follows a small band of land defenders, who risk their lives to confront and arrest the illegal loggers who are clearing those forests.
For decades, Anthony Ham has travelled to the world’s wildest places and shared their stories, for the likes of Lonely Planet, National Geographic, and the New York Times.
His latest book, The Man Who Loved Pink Dolphins, takes readers deep into the Amazon rainforest, where a Scottish man, Christopher Clark, made his home with the people of Xixuaú and helped to to protect their land.
Tim Baker was living the dream as an award-winning surf writer, but one day everything was turned upside down when he learned that he had metastatic prostate cancer.
Doctors talked about survival rates and treatment plans, but Tim didn’t just want to survive, he wanted to heal and to keep a life worth living.
In the Drawing Room, Tim shares the ups and downs of his experience and talks about his new memoir, Patting the Shark.
With a collaboration that began before they ever met in person, Mindy Meng Wang and Tim Shiel have combined the tradition and history of the guzheng with the current trends of electronic music.
The end result is some beautiful cascading lo-fi vibes and their debut EP, Nervous Energy.
The global pandemic put the brakes on our ability to move around the globe for a time, but we’re once again on the move, and in droves, so what does this mean for our fragile planet?
That’s one of the questions at the heart of the latest project by the Australian Chamber Orchestra - The Crowd & I.
In the Drawing Room, the ACO's artistic director Richard Tognetti shares his thoughts on crowds, concert halls, and the challenge to concentrate.
What happens when you create your own take on a beloved character and it doesn’t go well?
Doctor Who is a central figure in pop culture in Australia and the 2005 relaunch of the show has been hugely successful.
But in 1996, an attempt to reboot Dr Who for an American audience received a very different response. The 8th doctor appeared in a single television movie, sparked outrage amongst fans, and then vanished from screens.
Matthew Jacobs was the writer on that project, and he’s the director, alongside Vanessa Yuille, of a new film, Doctor Who Am I, which explores his attempt to reconnect with the fandom that rejected him.
What does it mean to have a home? To have a roof over your head and somewhere safe to sleep at night?
Almost a quarter of a million women over 55 are at risk of homelessness in Australia; in fact, they’ve been the fastest growing group of homeless people in this country for some time now.
A new documentary, Under Cover, introduces audiences to some of the women who have fallen through the cracks, with stories that range from one bad day, to years of domestic violence, to the new challenges of COVID-19.
In the Drawing Room, the film's director Sue Thomson talks about the women she met while filming, and the personal reality behind the statistics.
Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour is a thing of legend: a moment of musical genius onstage and chaos offstage that may never be replicated.
It married big band and rock; built reputations and relationships for some and ended them for others.
A new documentary, Learning to Live Together, follows a one-off reunion, as the Tedeschi Trucks Band brings the touring band back together.
In the Drawing Room, the director, Jesse Lauter, looks at what made those concerts a special part of history.
How much does the story of an object change, depending on who is looking at it?
Should a pink dress be described by the woman who wore it? By the history of its creation? By the changing way we understand the colour pink?
In the Drawing Room, the director of Newcastle Museum, Julie Baird, talks about the 1x4 exhibition and the way she aims to provide a wider view of history and an understanding of the role that curation plays in the way we understand the world.
What do you get when you mix a bunch of musicians on a stage with no script, no sheet music, and a licence to do whatever they want?
The answer is Supergroup! Live music as it’s never been heard before or perhaps will be again.
In the Drawing Room, Georgia Mooney talks music writing, going solo, and getting a little bit selfish.
Now considered one of the most celebrated composers in history, JS Bach was just one member of a talented family of musicians who, between them, created tens of thousands of works.
For a new tour, Shunske Sato, one of the world’s best Baroque violinists, is joining the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra for a journey into The Bachs.
In the Drawing Room he shares his earliest memories of the violin, when he was only 2, and explains what set the Bachs apart from their peers.
How do you say goodbye, when you feel someone you love slipping away from you? And how do you embrace your time with them, while they're still here?
Renee Brack is a journalist and a storyteller who has covered war from the frontline, but it was when Renee’s father died, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, that she found herself ‘stuck’; struggling with the loss and the guilt of that time.
In the Drawing Room, Renee talks about her new documentary, Ticketyboo, where she’s told her father's story and her own.
Can artificial intelligence make art? Or is it a uniquely human pursuit?
Ouchhh Studios have been on the forefront of digital art for more than a decade. They’re the artists in residence at Illuminate Adelaide this year, and in the Drawing Room, Ferdi Alici explains how the studio works with AI, and how that's led to collaborations with CERN, NASA, and Leonardo da Vinci.
September 11, 2001 was a day of shocking violence and loss. But, in the aftermath, it was also a day of heroism and of community.
As planes bound for New York were being turned away, many of them found themselves being directed to the small town of Gander, in Newfoundland, Canada.
Almost seven thousand people landed in Gander on that day. It could have been impossible. It could have been overwhelming. But instead, the town opened its arms to those strangers.
Their story was turned into a Tony Award winning musical, Come From Away, and in the Drawing Room, Gander residents Oz Fudge and Brian Mosher share how those days changed their lives.
Robert Wilson is an acclaimed director of experimental theatre and opera. but his latest work sees him stepping away from the stage and into the gallery, with a series of portraits.
But these are no ordinary portraits. They’re short films, which mix celebrity and art history and involve large teams behind the scenes.
Helping it all come together is Chris Green, Robert's producer, who also happens to be the executive director of Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Program.
Is it possible to tell when someone is lying to you? Not just to guess, but to truly know?
Michael Robotham's debut thriller sold more than a million copies, he's since become one of the biggest names in crime, and his latest novel features a woman with that precise skill
In the Drawing Room, Michael explains how he keeps the tension high, when the truth can be so easily exposed.
In the small city of Yellowstone, in the old west, the mine has shut and the town is slowly dying.
Then, one day, a wild local strikes gold. But hopes for a revival are quickly dashed when the man is murdered on his way home from celebrating.
A recently arrived outsider makes for a convenient suspect, but in this town, nothing is what it seems.
Australian director Richard Gray talks about his new film, Murder at Yellowstone City, and the town he built along the way.
Most of us would think of Australia as a trustworthy country, largely free from corruption and dirty money, at least in a global context.
But, if that's right, why has Australia been pointed to as one of the top targets in the world to launder money through real estate? And why have several major institutions in Australia been linked to money laundering?
Nathan Lynch is an expert on financial crime and the author of a new book, The Lucky Laundry.
Whether it's “can’t we all just get along” or “agree to disagree”, not everyone embraces an argument when it arrives.
But Lee Siegel argues that argument is essential: to the individual, to art, and to society. Argument leads to change and it helps us to understand the world.
Whether that argument plays out in political platforms, in art, or, increasingly, online, it’s a way of understanding the other side and convincing them that your point of view is better.
Stanley Jordan is a guitar virtuoso who has been pushing the boundaries with his playing for over four decades.
The worlds of classical music and urban culture very rarely rub shoulders.
However, KLASSIK underground, aims to bring these worlds together by combining classical music with other art forms such as dance, street art, poetry and video installations - to create innovative music events.
In the Drawing Room, Australian violist and creative producer, Tahlia Petrosian, talks about how she's bringing together laser artistry with Shostakovich.
Our Blood Runs in the Street is a visceral and raw examination of the violence and persecution experienced by the LGBTQI community in Australia.
Blending physical theatre with verbatim text, the production looks at a spate of brutal bashings and murders in Sydney that brought terror to the LGBTQI community for decades.
In the Drawing Room, award-winning director, Shane Anthony, talks about how he went about bringing these challenging and important stories to the stage.
Il Trovatore is perhaps Verdi's most complicated opera, with betrayals, abductions, revenge and hidden identities.
The character of Leonora is led by her heart and lacks reason. For singer, Leah Crocetto, who is taking on the role in Opera Australia's latest production, it's not a character she easily identifies with.
In the Drawing Room, Leah talk about how she's learnt to channel her inner teenager for the role and shares how a rejection from the Met Chorus changed the trajectory of her career.
What magic happens when a musical genius is exposed to Beethoven, Vivaldi, and AC/DC at a young age, and loves them all?
William Barton is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and one of Australia's leading didgeridoo players.
His latest song is a cover of the classic rock song Johnny B. Goode, as part of Chess Records' seventieth anniversary album, Everybody Knows I'm Here.
Robert Dessaix is an essential part of the Australian literary world. As a writer, a performer, and an interviewer, he's explored the meaning of life and the stories behind the stories.
For that work, he's the recipient of the 2022 Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature.
In the Drawing Room, Robert shares how he likes to connect ideas and talks about his latest release, Abracadabra.
The songs of Jimmy Barnes have become anthems for generations of Australians; his is a voice and a sound that's part of the fabric of this country.
But the sound that Jimmy grew up with was something else entirely. He grew up listening to the classics of soul, and that's a sound that's stayed with him throughout his career.
In the Drawing Room, Jimmy Barnes talks about the 30th anniversary of his Soul Deep record, crashing a Tina Turner concert, and music as communion.
What would Australia look like if we were to put children at the centre of public policy? Would we see more children thrive in school and stay out of prisons? And would they then go on to be more productive and prosperous adults?
In the Drawing Room, Jeni Whalan, Chief Strategy Officer at the Paul Ramsay Foundation and host of the Life's Lottery podcast talks about what it would mean to put kids at the centre of public policy.
Verdi's La Traviata invites you to indulge in the opulence and glamour of the Parisian salon. Violetta is a free-spirited courtesan who throws lavish parties with the finest champagne but amidst the glitz and glamour a tragic love story unfolds as our effervescent host relinquishes her only chance at love.
In the Drawing Room, Constantine Costi, the opera's revival director, talks about how he's making sparks fly in his new interpretation of this well-known opera classic.
Return to Seoul follows a young French-Korean woman as she travels to her country of birth on a holiday.
She swears she isn’t there to connect to her biological family, but, once in the country, she can’t help but reach out.
This isn’t the tale of a joyous reunion though, it’s complicated, messy, and prickly, just like real life.
In the Drawing Room, the film’s creator, Davy Chou, talks about the real experience that inspired the script, and the complicated questions of belonging that lie at its heart.
When faith and power collide, is it possible to avoid compromising your beliefs?
Tarik Saleh's new film, Boy from Heaven, was inspired by Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, but takes audiences to al-Azhar University in Cairo, where the death of the Grand Imam could change the power dynamics of the country.
In the Drawing Room he talks about the importance of truth in fiction and why he loves a country that doesn't love him back.
Representation is everything, it validates people and their experiences. So what happens when a large part of a country's population don’t see themselves reflected in society? Arabs represent almost 21% of Israelis but there are still very few Arab-Israeli journalists in the newsroom. Haaretz, one of Israel’s major newspapers, is trying to change that. In the Drawing Room, Noa Landau, the deputy editor-in-chief of Haaretz talks about the new initiative she's founded, Haaretz 21, that will give a voice to Arab-Israel writers.
Across installations, sculptures, and performance, food is front and centre in Elizabeth Willing's art.
Her new body of work, Forced Rhubarb, features hand-printed and embroidered linens, but also a large, looping floorwork made from brightly coloured sherbet-filled straws.
In the Drawing Room, Elizabeth talks about her own relationship with food, the surprising power of yeast, and how high-end dining compares to a gallery.
What would you do if you had one of the most dangerous men in the world handcuffed in a room and, for 20 minutes, it was just you and him?
That's the starting point of a new play, where two highway patrol officers accidentally arrest a powerful drug lord for speeding away from the jail he'd just broken out of.
Twenty Minutes With The Devil is based on real life events around the capture of El Chapo.
In the Drawing Room, playwrights and legal professors Desmond Manderson and Luis Gomez Romero talk about their approach to the stage.
The Jezabels were catapulted into the spotlight a decade ago when their debut album, Prisoner, won the 2011 Australian Music Prize and reached number two on the ARIA chart.
A lot has happened over those ten years, but the band have come back together for a national tour to celebrate the album and the chance to perform together again.
In the Drawing Room, Hayley Mary revisits those days in the studio and shares the ups and downs of a life in the music industry.
The Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people have, for centuries, lived deep in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil.
First contact with the Brazilian state came in 1981, and it came with a great cost: disease and illness killed off half the tribe.
Their territory is meant to be protected, but instead they’re facing invasion, with settlers moving into the forest and claiming the land as their own, with chainsaws and with fire.
A new documentary, The Territory, filmed in part by the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau themselves, captures the struggle between the two groups.
On streets and in halls around Australia, remarkable dancers are coming together in battle.
This is the world of competitive street dance, where the challengers break and pop their way to the top.
A new documentary, Keep Stepping, follows two dancers in Sydney as they prepare for one of the year's biggest competitions.
In the Drawing Room, the director, Luke Cornish, introduces us to the scene and explores the community at its heart.
Are we doing enough to protect our children’s mental and physical wellbeing?
It’s the tough question being tackled in a recent UNICEF report - Places and Spaces: Environments and children’s well-being.
Professor Fiona Stanley has long been a vocal advocate for the needs of children and their families and in 2003 she was named Australian of the Year in recognition of her public health work.
In The Drawing Room, Fiona talks about the report's findings and how over-consumption in some of the world’s richest countries is damaging our children’s environments.
The best songwriters tell us stories about the world around us, about shared experiences, but it's a rare treat when we get to hear about them and their story.
On her latest album, Home Video, Lucy Dacus, opens up about her own life, with songs that capture her coming of age, finding love, making friends and risking losing them.
In the Drawing Room, Lucy talks about the process of figuring out who she is and why she still writes in her journal.
When Ana Roxanne released her debut LP, Because of A Flower, in 2020, it provided a peaceful, meditative space for listeners to sit amongst the stress and the noise.
Inspired by her own personal story and the experience of identifying as intersex, it weaves complicated ideas into a deceptively simple sound.
In the Drawing Room, Ana explores resonant spaces and childhood influences.
Don Carlos is a grand work, with opera’s eternal themes of love, betrayal and faith.
These days, it's beloved by fans of Verdi, but that hasn’t always been the case. The opera has appeared in many forms over the years, with some acts edited out and even the language changed.
The latest production by the Metropolitan Opera is performed for the first time by the company in the original French.
The production's star, Matthew Polenzani, takes listeners back to the origins: the character's and his own.
In an old apartment in Kings Cross, Maureen keeps a notebook in which she lists her friends in the order that she expects them to die.
On stage, she shares the stories of the friends who are gone, and her own experiences along the way.
In the Drawing Room, Jonny Hawkins remembers the women who inspired their new play, Maureen: Harbinger of Death.
What does it take to power a one kilometre long laser above the surface of the Yarra river?
And when you’re composing a soundtrack for dance to be played by nine drummers, is it possible to create a quiet, gentle moment?
These are the questions that Robin Fox has been asking himself over the last few months as he prepares for a series of big festival shows.
In the Drawing Room, he explores the answers and explains why classical music caused him to break his own rules.
Søren Solkær made his name with celebrity portraits, taking photos of everyone from Paul McCartney to David Lynch.
Over a ten year run, starting in the mid-90s, Arab Strap released a half-dozen albums that brought them critical and public acclaim. They were the sort of artist that was your favourite band’s favourite band.
Then one day, they called it quits: moving on to other bands and other sounds.
Last year announced a return, their first album together in 16 years, called As Days Get Dark.
In the Drawing Room, Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton reminisce about the early days and the way the world has changed.
From haunting minimalist melodies to an almost overwhelming mix of synths and techno rhythms, Nils Frahm is one of the piano’s most interesting practitioners.
He's spent the pandemic-induced pause going back through his archives and finding musical friends—old and new—to share.
Ahead of his return to Sydney for his first concert since 2019, Nils talks about the importance of the subconscious and why he prefers improvisation.
Ferruccio Furlanetto is one of the world's greatest operatic basses.
Over five decades, Furlanetto has stamped his authority on the works of Verdi and Mozart with his powerful voice and impressive stage presence.
In the Drawing Room, he looks back over his career so far, and talks about taking on the role of Mefistofele.
As a worker, a theatre producer, an activist, and a businessman, William Onus was a tireless campaigner for the rights of his people in Australia, and a leader for the referendum that saw Australia's Indigenous peoples finally counted as people in their own country.
He was also, perhaps, the first Aboriginal filmmaker.
A new documentary, Ablaze, begins with the discovery of Bill's film in the National Film and Sound Archive and goes on to tell his story, and the story of his fight for equal rights.
Co-director Alec Morgan shares Bill's story and the story of the film.
A good photo can capture the mood of a moment, but a great photograph tells us something deeper: it layers history and emotion and can change our understanding of the world.
When Covid broke out in New York, Philip Montgomery was in the public hospitals and the funeral homes, capturing the moment.
When protests broke out over the death of black men and women by police violence, Philip was there to cover it and was shot with rubber bullets for his troubles.
In the Drawing Room, he talks about his new monograph and exhibition, American Mirror.
His beautiful voice and remarkable cover versions brought him a devoted following online, but it's his own songs that have turned Teddy Swims into a burgeoning superstar, with a sound that's a throwback to the classic moments of soul.
In the Drawing Room, Teddy Swims talks about his path to music and the promises he's made and kept, to himself and to his friends.
How much say should corporations have in our fundamental rights as a society?
And whether or not you agree with the stands they take, are there dangers in letting businesses be in a position to dictate our moral choices?
In the Drawing Room, Professor Carl Rhodes discusses his book, Woke Capitalism, and the problems that occur when governments cede the debate around issues like climate change and equal rights to businesses who might talk a good game, but have their own interests at heart.
Every year there are a handful of books that cross from literary masterpiece into cultural touchstone.
Hanya Yanagihara's second novel, A Little Life, was one of those novels and catapulted her onto the world stage.
Her latest work, To Paradise, takes readers into relationships in the present, the future and an alternate imagined past of America and looks at how the country's image of itself stacks up to the reality.
Jennifer Egan's latest work, The Candy House, is a book that looks at the power of technology, but is, at its heart, about the power of stories: the stories we tell ourselves, the stories that are told about us, and the stories that Egan shares.
The Archibald is perhaps the most significant art prize in this country, capturing the public's attention each year with a collection of brilliant paintings that showcase the diverse potential of the portrait.
The 2022 winner is Blak Douglas, for his painting of Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens.
In the Drawing Room, Blak shares his path to portraits and the role of politics in his art.
From the start, Camp Cope have won over fans with their open-hearted songs about love, loss, sex, and sexism.
Their latest release, Running With The Hurricane, is a gentler record, released at a time when we could all use a little gentleness, but of course, it's no less honest.
In the Drawing Room, Georgia McDonald and Kelly Hellmrich discuss origin stories and vocal tips.
History is a complicated thing: a single moment can be told in many different ways, and the stories that build from those moments can shape our place in the world.
Danie Mellor has been working with those diverging narratives of history over his last several collections, and his latest, redux, part of the Photo 2022 exhibition, places the audience within the story.
Wagner's Lohengrin is a fantastical romance of epic proportions: a story of love, deception, and faith.
Elsa is accused of fratricide and prays for a knight to save her. That prayer is answered when Lohengrin appears, but his help is far from unconditional.
Emily Magee is an acclaimed soprano, who has played the role around the world. In the Drawing Room, she talks about the essence of the character, her path to the stage, and finding a family through opera.
The Venice Biennale is perhaps the biggest name in contemporary art: a chance for nations to showcase their best and brightest artist and for artists to represent their country on the world stage.
This year, Marco Fusinato joins the list of Australian alumni with a very unusual display: a six-month long performance of guitar-based noise music and visuals called Desastres.
In the Drawing Room, Alexie Glass-Kantor and Mikala Tai discuss the work, the excitement of curating a major showcase, and the experience on the ground in Venice.
Mark Vincent came to Australia's attention as a fifteen year old boy on Australia's Got Talent with his version of Puccini's Nessun Dorma.
Nine hit albums later, Mark's work is now inspired by his own young son.
In the Drawing Room, Mark talks about his changing perspective on music and gives a peek into the process behind his cover of Dance Monkey.
Once, not as long ago as many would like to imagine, the remains of Australia's Indigenous people were pillaged and sent around the world.
Viewed as trophies, or scientific curiosities, they found their way to museums and private collections, far from Country and the families who loved them.
Efforts to bring those ancestors home have become more prominent, but many institutions still resist attempts at repatriation.
In the Drawing Room, Jason Tamiru and Jimi Bani discuss The Return, a new theatre show that takes audiences into that story, and looks to create a place for learning and for healing.
When MI6 agent Sylvia Fox grows disillusioned with the politics of her job, she heads for Italy - but trouble is not far behind.
This is the premise for a new TV show Signora Volpe starring British actress Emilia Fox.
In the Drawing Room, Emilia talks about preparing for the role and how the character compares to Dr. Nikki Alexander who she played for 17 years in Silent Witness.
Technology has given us access to the world - but in exchange, has it robbed us of our ability to focus?
Led by the charismatic, intense frontman David McComb, The Triffids were part of a generation of Australian bands that went to England and took on the world.
Along the way they created a body of music that's stood the test of times and inspired more than a few new bands in their wake.
In the Drawing Room, Rob McComb and Graham Lee look back on their days with the band, the new documentary, Love in Bright Landscapes, and paying tribute to the memory of their friend and brother.
Led by the charismatic, intense frontman David McComb, The Triffids were part of a generation of Australian bands that went to England and took on the world.
Along the way they created a body of music that's stood the test of times and inspired more than a few new bands in their wake.
In the Drawing Room, Rob McComb and Graham Lee look back on their days with the band, the new documentary, Love in Bright Landscapes, and paying tribute to the memory of their friend and brother.
One evening in 1930, a revolutionary piece of political satire premiered in Leipzig, Germany. Some took it as a shot at the troubles of Weimar Republic, other thought it was aimed at the excesses of early 20th century American society. Either way it's themes of political corruption, sin and economic crisis saw it banned by the Nazis and it disappeared until the 1960s.
Now, in our globalised world, with the rise of autocrats and the subjugation of migrant workers' rights, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, by Berholt Brecht, Elizabeth Hauptmann, and Kurt Weill, still feels contemporary.
In the Drawing Room, director Suzanne Chaundy talks about her take on the work.
One evening in 1930, a revolutionary piece of political satire premiered in Leipzig, Germany. Some took it as a shot at the troubles of Weimar Republic, other thought it was aimed at the excesses of early 20th century American society. Either way it's themes of political corruption, sin and economic crisis saw it banned by the Nazis and it disappeared until the 1960s.
Now, in our globalised world, with the rise of autocrats and the subjugation of migrant workers' rights, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, by Berholt Brecht, Elizabeth Hauptmann, and Kurt Weill, still feels contemporary.
In the Drawing Room, director Suzanne Chaundy talks about her take on the work.
"Be joyful - a caressing voice invites us warmly to joy."
So says Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata, a favourite role of Melbourne soprano Stacey Alleaume.
Alleaume has become something of a specialist at not only singing challenging roles, but in challenging situations: at the top of hot air balloons, shipping containers, and even quite literally swinging from chandeliers.
In the Drawing Room, she talks about her path to opera, the real woman behind the character of Violetta, and the importance of a good plate of pasta.
"Be joyful - a caressing voice invites us warmly to joy."
So says Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata, a favourite role of Melbourne soprano Stacey Alleaume.
Alleaume has become something of a specialist at not only singing challenging roles, but in challenging situations: at the top of hot air balloons, shipping containers, and even quite literally swinging from chandeliers.
In the Drawing Room, she talks about her path to opera, the real woman behind the character of Violetta, and the importance of a good plate of pasta.
"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action." So says Hamlet, to the troupe of players he has brought together for a show.
For more than three decades, Bell Shakespeare have suited the bard's words to the action on stages across Australia.
In the Drawing Room, the company's artistic director, Peter Evans, talks about his path to theatre, the company's new home and the nostalgia at the heart of Hamlet.
"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action." So says Hamlet, to the troupe of players he has brought together for a show.
For more than three decades, Bell Shakespeare have suited the bard's words to the action on stages across Australia.
In the Drawing Room, the company's artistic director, Peter Evans, talks about his path to theatre, the company's new home and the nostalgia at the heart of Hamlet.
It can help to stand out when you're a young band looking to make an impression. But it's not always easy creating your own place in the world.
Slave to Sirens is Lebanon's first all-female metal band and the subjects of a new documentary, Sirens, which follows the women as they write, rehearse, and fight to chart their own path.
Documentary maker Rita Baghdadi spent three years with the women, and she's created a very intimate portrait of creativity and coming-of-age.
It can help to stand out when you're a young band looking to make an impression. But it's not always easy creating your own place in the world.
Slave to Sirens is Lebanon's first all-female metal band and the subjects of a new documentary, Sirens, which follows the women as they write, rehearse, and fight to chart their own path.
Documentary maker Rita Baghdadi spent three years with the women, and she's created a very intimate portrait of creativity and coming-of-age.
Julian Assange has become a symbol over the years. Just mentioning his name conjures up ideas of press freedoms and government tyranny, or of threats to national security, depending on where your own ideals lie.
But behind the symbol is a person, dealing with an extended period of detention, and surrounded by family members that are also impacted by the realities of his imprisonment.
A new documentary, Ithaka, follows Assange's partner, Stella, and his father, John, in the months leading up to the first extradition hearing in 2020.
In the Drawing Room, director Ben Lawrence and producer Gabriel Shipton, look back on the story they hoped to tell and the reality of living through those times.
Julian Assange has become a symbol over the years. Just mentioning his name conjures up ideas of press freedoms and government tyranny, or of threats to national security, depending on where your own ideals lie.
But behind the symbol is a person, dealing with an extended period of detention, and surrounded by family members that are also impacted by the realities of his imprisonment.
A new documentary, Ithaka, follows Assange's partner, Stella, and his father, John, in the months leading up to the first extradition hearing in 2020.
In the Drawing Room, director Ben Lawrence and producer Gabriel Shipton, look back on the story they hoped to tell and the reality of living through those times.
"It's all well and good to sound the fire alarm, but you've also got to show people where the exits are."
That's the philosophy behind Damon Gameau's latest film, Regenerating Australia.
It's the result of months of in-depth conversations with people across Australia, and imagines what the country could look like by the end of this decade, if a few key decisions were made.
As he tours the film, Gameau's hoping to provide communities with the tools that they need to get involved in creating that future.
"It's all well and good to sound the fire alarm, but you've also got to show people where the exits are."
That's the philosophy behind Damon Gameau's latest film, Regenerating Australia.
It's the result of months of in-depth conversations with people across Australia, and imagines what the country could look like by the end of this decade, if a few key decisions were made.
As he tours the film, Gameau's hoping to provide communities with the tools that they need to get involved in creating that future.
From floods to fires to pandemics, Australia has seen its share of disaster over the last few years.
But when something goes wrong and the worst happens, how do we respond? How do we cope? And how do we plan to prevent it happening again?
Lucy Easthope has been an advisor in the U.K. on everything from September 11 to the Grenfell fires to Covid-19.
In the Drawing Room, she looks back on the lessons she's learnt along the way and shares stories from her new memoir, When The Dust Settles.
From floods to fires to pandemics, Australia has seen its share of disaster over the last few years.
But when something goes wrong and the worst happens, how do we respond? How do we cope? And how do we plan to prevent it happening again?
Lucy Easthope has been an advisor in the U.K. on everything from September 11 to the Grenfell fires to Covid-19.
In the Drawing Room, she looks back on the lessons she's learnt along the way and shares stories from her new memoir, When The Dust Settles.
When it's time to take down a major score, you need a plan, you need a team, and—whether it's The Italian Job, Heat or Ocean's Eleven—you need to have an impeccable sense of style.
The heist genre has produced some classic films, and in a new program, The Art of the Heist, the Cinémathèque at QAGOMA is inviting audiences along for the crime.
Curator Rosie Hays explores what makes the genre tick and how it's changed throughout the decades.
When it's time to take down a major score, you need a plan, you need a team, and—whether it's The Italian Job, Heat or Ocean's Eleven—you need to have an impeccable sense of style.
The heist genre has produced some classic films, and in a new program, The Art of the Heist, the Cinémathèque at QAGOMA is inviting audiences along for the crime.
Curator Rosie Hays explores what makes the genre tick and how it's changed throughout the decades.
Indigenous children are around six percent of the child population in Australia, but they are over-represented in a number of troubling areas, like out-of-home care, incarceration, and youth suicide.
The statistics point to a problem, but they don't get to the why.
What's gone wrong with the systems that were meant to help? And how can government departments begin to address the problems without introducing a new round of trauma?
Dr Tracy Westerman is the founder of Indigenous Psychological Services and The Jilya Institute. She's been named Western Australia's Australian of the Year and is celebrated for her pioneering work in developing mental health programs for First Nations peoples.
Indigenous children are around six percent of the child population in Australia, but they are over-represented in a number of troubling areas, like out-of-home care, incarceration, and youth suicide.
The statistics point to a problem, but they don't get to the why.
What's gone wrong with the systems that were meant to help? And how can government departments begin to address the problems without introducing a new round of trauma?
Dr Tracy Westerman is the founder of Indigenous Psychological Services and The Jilya Institute. She's been named Western Australia's Australian of the Year and is celebrated for her pioneering work in developing mental health programs for First Nations peoples.
The Nobel Prize–winning writer Svetlana Alexievich wrote that when women speak of war, ‘they say nothing or almost nothing of what we are used to reading and hearing about’.
So what are those stories that have gone unread? What would we hear if we chose to listen?
Maria Tumarkin and Lior Albeck-Ripka are the curators of When Women Speak of War and in the Drawing Room they speak about how Alexievich has inspired their work and the current invasion of Ukraine.
The Nobel Prize–winning writer Svetlana Alexievich wrote that when women speak of war, ‘they say nothing or almost nothing of what we are used to reading and hearing about’.
So what are those stories that have gone unread? What would we hear if we chose to listen?
Maria Tumarkin and Lior Albeck-Ripka are the curators of When Women Speak of War and in the Drawing Room they speak about how Alexievich has inspired their work and the current invasion of Ukraine.
There aren't too many photographers who can say that Andy Warhol gave them a lift home from a party.
Or that Nina Simone burned the polaroids they took, until eventually there was one she was happy with.
But Robert Rosen is no ordinary photographer.
Rosen spent decades in exclusive clubs, bars and parties, as much at home there as the celebrities he was capturing.
There aren't too many photographers who can say that Andy Warhol gave them a lift home from a party.
Or that Nina Simone burned the polaroids they took, until eventually there was one she was happy with.
But Robert Rosen is no ordinary photographer.
Rosen spent decades in exclusive clubs, bars and parties, as much at home there as the celebrities he was capturing.
T20 has changed the face of cricket, drawing new fans and big money to the sport.
But what has it been like to be a part of that change? To grow up loving test matches and shift to the shorter form?
Dan Christian is one of the sport’s top players. He’s been part of championship teams across several different countries, and he’s represented Australia in the T20 and One Day games.
In the Drawing Room, he looks back over that history and the challenges and successes he's faced along the way.
T20 has changed the face of cricket, drawing new fans and big money to the sport.
But what has it been like to be a part of that change? To grow up loving test matches and shift to the shorter form?
Dan Christian is one of the sport’s top players. He’s been part of championship teams across several different countries, and he’s represented Australia in the T20 and One Day games.
In the Drawing Room, he looks back over that history and the challenges and successes he's faced along the way.
The last two years have been a difficult time for a lot of musicians, but L.A.B could be forgiven for looking back with a massive grin.
In 2020, they became the name in music in New Zealand. Their single, In The Air, went number 1 and spent the whole year in the Top 40.
From there it's been platinum albums, sold out shows and now, finally, international tours.
In the Drawing Room, Joel Shadbolt and Miharo Gregory talk about the journey.
The last two years have been a difficult time for a lot of musicians, but L.A.B could be forgiven for looking back with a massive grin.
In 2020, they became the name in music in New Zealand. Their single, In The Air, went number 1 and spent the whole year in the Top 40.
From there it's been platinum albums, sold out shows and now, finally, international tours.
In the Drawing Room, Joel Shadbolt and Miharo Gregory talk about the journey.
In 1961, a painting by Francisco Goya was stolen from the National Gallery of London.
It was assumed that a skilled gang of art thieves had broken in to sell it to a private collector.
The truth was much stranger: the thief was a retired bus driver who wanted charity payments to cover TV licences in Britain for the old and the vulnerable.
That story is the inspiration for a new film, The Duke, produced by Nicky Bentham
In 1961, a painting by Francisco Goya was stolen from the National Gallery of London.
It was assumed that a skilled gang of art thieves had broken in to sell it to a private collector.
The truth was much stranger: the thief was a retired bus driver who wanted charity payments to cover TV licences in Britain for the old and the vulnerable.
That story is the inspiration for a new film, The Duke, produced by Nicky Bentham
After a triumphant retelling of the history of the Wright Brothers in their last show Fly, Lano and Woodley are chasing the white whale of an audience's love, as they take on Moby Dick.
In the Drawing Room they explore the themes of the book, the frustrations of zoom meetings, and the importance of laughter.
After a triumphant retelling of the history of the Wright Brothers in their last show Fly, Lano and Woodley are chasing the white whale of an audience's love, as they take on Moby Dick.
In the Drawing Room they explore the themes of the book, the frustrations of zoom meetings, and the importance of laughter.
Have you ever lost a loved one's attention to late nights of hill climbs at the Tour de France?
Maybe you've slipped on the lycra yourself and taken to the bikeways of Australia.
For more than three decades, Mike Tomalaris was the voice of cycling in this country.
In the Drawing Room, Mike opens up about his route to the race and life after SBS.
Have you ever lost a loved one's attention to late nights of hill climbs at the Tour de France?
Maybe you've slipped on the lycra yourself and taken to the bikeways of Australia.
For more than three decades, Mike Tomalaris was the voice of cycling in this country.
In the Drawing Room, Mike opens up about his route to the race and life after SBS.
Ned Kelly is part of the Australian folk tradition: the subject of movies, books, songs and art.
But what about the stories of the men around him? Those he killed, and those who hunted him down?
Grantlee Kieza is the author of a new history book, The Kelly Hunters, which seeks to broaden the understanding of Kelly's place in history.
Ned Kelly is part of the Australian folk tradition: the subject of movies, books, songs and art.
But what about the stories of the men around him? Those he killed, and those who hunted him down?
Grantlee Kieza is the author of a new history book, The Kelly Hunters, which seeks to broaden the understanding of Kelly's place in history.
Over the course of six albums, Dan Sultan has become one of Australia's eminent singer-songwriters. But his last ARIA win wasn't for his usual music, it was a children's record.
In the Drawing Room, Sultan talks about the inspiration behind Nali and Friends, taking time off with his own children, and his connection to Yeperenye and the Parrtjima festival.
In an era of reputation management and corporations with aggressive legal teams, who decides what stories make it to print?
Arabella Pike is the publishing Director at William Collins Books.
Two of her authors—Tom Burgis and Catherine Belton—recently faced significant lawsuits from Russian oligarchs and she was the one who had to decide whether to cave or to hold firm and risk financial destruction.
Eddie Perfect has experienced pretty much everything a musical has to offer, but his latest role in 9 to 5 gave him something new: public shame.
While playing the villain, Eddie gets strung up above a laughing audience as the house lights go up, and he says it's something he's appreciated getting to try.
In the Drawing Room, he talks about what goes on behind the creation of a big show, and shares his recollections of Shane Warne.
"An explosion is worth a hundred million words. And that is maybe too many words to say," So says the final line on Labyrinthitis, the new album by Destroyer.
Dan Bejar may not be up to a hundred million words yet, but across thirteen albums with Destroyer and more than a few collaborations, he's created his fair share of beloved lyrics - building a cult following that sometimes crosses over into a mainstream embrace.
In the Drawing Room, Dan talks about Chekov, Cher, and acts of futility in the face of insurmountable odds.
Elite athletes are able to push their bodies to remarkable places. They perform with a grace, speed, and power that most of us can’t even imagine.
But the mental side can be just as important: from staying focused during a gruelling training session to finding a way to come back from an injury or a bad loss.
Emma Murray is the founder of High Performance Mindfulness and in the Drawing Room she shares her experience in working with athletes across a range of sports, as well as details of her new podcast, The Long Haul.
In a future where love has become an almost forgotten relic, is it possible to rekindle that flame?
On the streets of a future Hong Kong, where the value of a life isn't what it used to be, a hitman floats through his days.
When he sees a woman on the train and follows her to her work, everything begins to change for both of them.
Loveland is the new film by Ivan Sen, a sci-fi romance that asks audiences to question love, loneliness, and the cost of extending a life.
Several years ago, Mina Guli set out to run 100 marathons in 100 days, seeking to draw attention to the water crisis.
62 runs in, she was dealing with a labral tear and a 15cm fracture in her femur.
Most people would probably give up at that point, but Mina paused, recovered, and is now setting off on 200 marathons over the next year.
In the Drawing Room, Mina describes what keeps her going and why she sees this as the central crisis of our time.
Late 1800s naturalist John Muir once said "rivers flow not past, but through us."
They blend land and water, carrying and supporting life; creating valleys in which humans grew the first food and set up the first cities. And yet we have not been kind in return.
In the Drawing Room, Jennifer Peedom discusses her latest documentary, River.
When Anna Qu was fifteen, she was put to work in her family's sweatshop in New York, working long hours after school cutting the threads off clothes and taking the train home alone late at night.
Meanwhile her half-siblings had lives of relative comfort and support.
Eventually Anna allowed her guidance councillor to call child services on her parents, and their relationship changed forever.
Anna has written about her life in a new memoir, Made in China.
Bob Dylan's songs sit at the heart of modern America's music and storytelling traditions.
Those songs also form the heart of the recent musical, Girl From the North Country, which takes audiences to Dylan's hometown of Duluth, Minnesota in the midst of the Depression into which Dylan was born.
Terence Crawford and Elizabeth Hay, two of the stars of the Australian production, talk about their own relationship with the music.
It's become one of the most powerful companies in the world, valued at more than one trillion dollars, with warehouses and high tech fulfilment centres across the globe and a huge media empire as a side-hustle.
But what are the impacts of Amazon's remarkable success: on businesses, on workers, and on governments?
Alec MacGillis is a reporter with ProPublica and the author of Fulfilment: Winning and Losing in One Click America.
Bernie Krause has been listening to the world for decades, travelling from one end of the Earth to the other to capture the sounds that make each habitat unique: their biophony.
His installation piece, The Great Animal Orchestra—created in association with Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain and presented as part of the Biennale of Sydney—gives listeners a chance to travel with him.
In the Drawing Room, Krause explains why listening helps his ADHD and how sound can reveal the environmental impact of development.
"Sometimes you just can't stop yourself from writing about the things that need to be written."
When Courtney Marie Andrews started writing her latest album, Old Flowers, she had just come to the end of a nine-year relationship.
At first, she tried to write songs about other things, to take her mind off the situation. But eventually she gave in, let herself heal, and created a beautiful breakup album along the way.
In The Drawing Room, Courtney talks about the wrong paths she's avoided, writing from the heart, and the importance of aimless walks.
Slab waves are some of the most impressive and terrifying things you're likely to see in nature: waves the size of a forty foot apartment building crumbling onto a few centimetres of water and, below that, a hard ground of rock and reef.
Only a few daring souls would even consider taking a surfboard out onto one.
In the Drawing Room, Bentley Dean talks about his new documentary, Facing Monsters, which follows Kerby Brown as he tests himself against those wild conditions and turns surfing into an artform.
Cedric Burnside is a third-generation blues musician.
Growing up listening to his family play at house parties and juke joints, he realised that music would always be a part of his life. And by the age of thirteen, he was touring internationally with his grandfather, R. L. Burnside.
In the Drawing Room he talks about those early tours, his recent success, picking up falconry and DIY disasters during lockdown.
What do you see when you look into the night sky?
Do you know the Big Dipper and the Southern Cross?
What about the Celestial Emu and the Seven Sisters?
The skies of Australia were the focus of stories and study long before Europeans set foot on this land. And that knowledge from First Nations Peoples is beginning to be more widely acknowledged and celebrated.
Associate Professor Alice Gorman is a Space Archaeologist and the guest editor of Astronomy: Sky Country, a new book in the First Knowledges series, written by Gomeroi astrophysicists Krystal De Napoli and Karlie Noon.
"Don't say anything that isn't true."
Colm Tóibín's work spans eras, genres and takes on everything from the domestic to divinity, and he has been rewarded with a collection of the major prizes from around the world.
But this year, he celebrates a new debut—his first collection of poetry.
In the Drawing Room, Tóibín discusses the rules of poetry; the surprising observations he made while recovering from cancer; and his recent novel The Magician.
'You're not a real Hong Konger if you haven't tasted tear gas'
One Country, Two Systems: the idea lies at the heart of Hong Kong's relationship with China.
But in 2019, as Hong Kong locked to change their extradition laws, that central concept appeared to be fraying.
And so millions of citizens took to the streets day after day. But why was Hong Kong's protest movement so persistent? And what's next?
Antony Dapiran is a Hong Kong-based writer and lawyer and the author of City on Fire: The Fight For Hong Kong.
A hockey team with mob connections; a fistfight between players and fans in the basketball stands; a tennis star opening up about mental health: some sporting moments stick in the public consciousness.
But what is it like being a part of those moments? To have your life defined by a great victory or a crushing defeat?
Chapman and Maclain Way are the directors of Untold, a documentary series looking at the personal stories behind the headlines, and in the Drawing Room they share the surprises they found along the way.
Whether it's coffee, alcohol, or perhaps something a little less legal, most people have experienced the mind-altering properties of the natural world.
But how did some plants become illegal while others are just part of the background hum of daily life? And how do they effect our brains?
Michael Pollan is an author and journalist and in his latest book This Is Your Mind on Plants, he takes a look at the science, history and social impact of caffeine, opium, and mescaline
The food system is broken. That's the claim Anika Molesworth, the deputy chair of Farmers for Climate Action, makes in her recent book, Our Sunburnt Country.
Food is thrown away in huge quantities in nations like Australia, while other people lack the basics of daily life; consumers are trained to expect the lowest possible prices for produce, leaving farmers frustrated and struggling; and climate change is already having an impact on the types of crops that can be grown in our regions.
In the Drawing Room, Anika talks about her own journey to the country and the path to a better future for everyone.
Each year at the World Wine Tasting Championships, teams of the best sommeliers in the world attempt to identify twelve different wines—from the type, to the year, to the vineyard—with no information except the glass in front of them.
When he was a nine-year-old boy, Valanga Khoza was working in a factory in South Africa, under the watchful gaze of a guard and his sjambok.
As a university student, he became involved in the country's fight against Apartheid, which led to his arrest and exile from his homeland.
Now, Valanga is a musician and a story-teller in Australia where he found a new home and an appreciative audience.
By the time he was twenty, Joseph Tawadros had already received a significant music fellowship and an ARIA nomination for his first album.
He's gone on to become one of the most respected Oud players in the world, performing a concert of his original music at the BBC Proms and being awarded the Order of Australia medal along the way.
For the last few two years he's been stuck in London during the pandemic, finishing off an album that he began in New York, but in the Drawing Room he's looking forward with a tour and mystery new project on the way.
From vaccine roll outs to support packages for business, the pandemic has brought home the importance of the role that the government plays in our lives.
And while the public sector once had a reputation for being slow and averse to change, they have shown how quickly they can innovate when a crisis presents the opportunity.
But is that innovation sustainable and is long-term planning possible when the next election is always just around the corner?
When we see a film—whether it's in the cinema or on a streaming platform—we see the final result of years of hard work from many hands.
But what does it take to get from the initial idea to the first screening? And how does the industry pick which projects to fund and which to set aside?
From his early days working with Ang Lee to heading up Amazon Studios, Ted Hope has been a central part of some of the big screen's most interesting productions and its biggest changes. And in the Drawing Room he looks back at the lessons he's learned along the way.
Sidney Nolan remains one of Australia's most respected artists. His work can be found in museums across the country, and his iconic depiction of Ned Kelly was even used in the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.
But who was the man behind the icon? How did an intimate relationship with a married couple—and it's bitter end—shape Nolan's later life? And how do we grapple with Nolan's legacy today?
Kendrah Morgan and Dean Cross discuss Nolan and two exhibitions at the Heide Museum of Modern Art.
With his husky baritone voice and his stories of Australia—as it was, as it is, and as it could be—William Crighton is staking his claim to be part of the Australian songbook.
In the Drawing Room, William speaks with Andy Park about his new album Water and Dust, his family, his friendship with William Barton, and his love for writing about the human stories.
Influence can be built in many different ways, from the quiet conversations in the corridors of power to the loud attention of celebrity.
Social media has introduced a new playing field and a new title: 'influencer'.
And while the names that dominate online might not have the same household recognition as traditional celebrities, their work generates hundreds of millions of views and billions of dollars every year.
Given their reach, are the people with the biggest voices online in a position to quietly, and not so quietly, change the stories of our society?
Olivia Yallop is the author of Break The Internet: In Search of Influence.
The upcoming Federal election has seen a rise in independent candidates across the country - under the banner of groups like ‘Voices of’ and Climate 200.
But what drives someone to become involved in politics in Australia? And is it possible to truly maintain your independence?
Jo Dyer is the director of Adelaide Writers' Week and the author of Burning Down The House: Reconstructing Modern Politics. She's also one of the candidates running for parliament.
Globalisation was once seen, at least among the Western establishment, as a universal good: the 'rising tide that would lift all boats'.
Lately though, from the rise of Donald Trump to the challenges of Covid, that establishment view has come under increasing challenge from the very political powers that once supported it.
In their recent book, Six Faces of Globalization, Anthea Roberts and Nicolas Lamp have identified six different narratives that have emerged about globalisation—each with its own perspective on the winners, the losers, and the eventual answers.
In a world full of complications and compromises, is it possible to be a truly moral person? To be truly good?
And how do we begin to explain the answer to thorny questions like 'is it ok to punch my friend in the face for no reason?'
Mike Schur is the creator of The Good Place and the author of How To Be Perfect and in the Drawing Room, he takes us from Aristotle to a heart-felt apology.
In an unnamed city, a man goes suddenly blind. Then another. And another, until it's clear that a pandemic is sweeping through the population.
The infected are sent to abandoned hospitals and set under armed guard, while outside the camps the government, and society, slowly fall apart.
Blindness was originally a novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago, but its most recent adaptation lies somewhere between theatre and sound installation.
In the Drawing Room, playwright Simon Stephens talks about his own path to theatre and how one actor changed everything about the show.
What rights do you have over the things that you own?
It used to be that if you bought something and it broke, you could pull it apart and fix it yourself.
But over the last few decades, companies have used design decisions, intellectual property law and software controls to make that much harder.
It all adds up to a lot more purchases and a lot more waste.
In the Drawing Room, Aaron Perzanowski, the John Homer Kapp Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University and author of The Right to Repair, explains how we got to this point, and how change could occur.
What rights do you have over the things that you own?
It used to be that if you bought something and it broke, you could pull it apart and fix it yourself.
But over the last few decades, companies have used design decisions, intellectual property law and software controls to make that much harder.
It all adds up to a lot more purchases and a lot more waste.
In the Drawing Room, Aaron Perzanowski, the John Homer Kapp Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University and author of The Right to Repair, explains how we got to this point, and how change could occur.
Written into the bark of the red gums around Lake Boort, north-west of Bendigo in Victoria, is the living history of Dja Dja Wurrung country.
Preserved by the same dam that killed many of the trees, they now form the largest scar tree site in Australia.
It's a remarkable and overlooked record of pre-colonial Australia, and preserving this history has become a mission for a local historian and the Yung Balug clan.
"We need risk in our lives to be healthy humans. And we need it in part because it forces us to be more humble and it forces us to work with others."
Damien Cave has reported from war zones and natural disasters, but when he moved to Sydney to become the Australian bureau chief for The New York Times he had to learn how to confront a surprising new set of challenges.
It's made Damien consider his own openness on risk and in the Drawing Room, he explores how fear and failure has changed his perspective on the world.
The past is a permanent record: a series of events leading inexorably to the present day.
But the way that we understand those events, the telling of history, that can change significantly over the generations.
So what does it mean to 'make history' and shape the events of the past into a story that informs the future?
In the Drawing Room, the historian Anna Clark reflects on the changing philosophy behind Australian history.
Emerging out of Austin's indie-rock scene in the early 90s, Spoon have gone on to craft a body of work that must be the envy of their contemporaries.
The band was in the middle of recording their tenth studio album, back home in Austin, when the first wave of Covid hit America and everything went on hold.
In the Drawing Room, the band's frontman, Britt Daniel, explains why that enforced hiatus may have been the best thing for the record.
Professional cricketers, who spend their summers standing around in the sun, are vulnerable to climate change. Matches have been postponed because of air quality concerns in recent years and the rising heat creates its own challenges.
But what about the impact that the sport itself is having on emissions?
Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins led Australia to a series of dominating wins in the Ashes over the summer, but is now championing a movement that's taking place off the pitch: Cricket for Climate.
These days, Sesame Street is an institution. But when the show first started, it was charting a radical new path.
Combining the wisdom of education specialists, the tricks of the advertising industry and the dark humour of Jim Henson, the creators wanted to find out what a television show could do if it loved people instead of trying to sell to them.
In the Drawing Room, Marilyn Agrelo talks about her new documentary Street Gang, and explains how the show's integrated cast led to it being pulled off the air in Mississippi.
In the thawing permafrost of Siberia an ancient body is found, a preserved virus makes its way into the world, and everything changes.
Sequoia Nagamatsu started his debut novel, How High We Go in the Dark, long before Covid hit the headlines, but it couldn't have been more prescient.
It's a beautifully written book that grapples with grief and hope, science and faith. In the Drawing Room, Sequoia discusses his own inspirations.
In a society that seems increasingly fractured into smaller communities, is it still possible to embrace the idea of 'us' instead of 'them'?
Against a rising tide of authoritarianism, Stan Grant examines the importance of finding common ground, despite how difficult that can sometimes seem.
For Patricia's final Drawing Room, a couple of musicians whose awesome music will end the year on a good note.
In 2021, Gordi and Alex Lahey have collaborated together and released their own solo tracks; Gordi's been doubling as both a doctor and a musician and Alex has been getting Oscar buzz. It's been a big year! In the Drawing Room they reflect on recent times and reveal their plans for the future.
On an isolated Island, off the coast of Scotland, a small group of men wait.
And wait.
They fill the hours with old episodes of Friends and awkward lessons in British culture.
Ben Sharrock talks about his new film, Limbo, an absurdist, tragic, funny, and heartfelt look at the days and months of asylum seekers waiting for an answer about their future.
In 2015, a glamourous young couple in Tehran died in a car crash when they lost control of their new Porsche.
At a personal level, it was a tragedy for the families involved. But the story didn't stay personal.
Their Instagram feeds became a flashpoint: a place to vent anger about the ostentatious wealth displayed by the children of privilege in Iran
Javaad Alipoor takes that event and its fallout as the starting point for a recent show, Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran, in which he examines questions of wealth, images, history and the Anthropocene.
In her first starring role, in The Worst Person In The World, Renate Reinsve has won the best actress award at Cannes and been celebrated by critics around the globe.
But it almost didn't happen. Reinsve was considering giving up acting when Joachim Trier approached her with a role he'd written specifically for her - having grown tired of waiting for the industry to recognise her talent.
In the Drawing Room, Reinsve shares the shock of winning the award, the relief of handing back her diamonds at the end of the night, and how she's embracing the chaos of an expected year.
Rita Moreno is one of a handful of performers to complete the EGOT and she featured in iconic musicals like West Side Story and Singing In The Rain.
But her own life is as remarkable as any tale she's performed on screen.
In the Drawing Room, Mariem Pérez Riera talks about her biopic on the trailblazing actress.
Jaguar Jonze is a major voice in the Australian music industry: speaking out on racism, sexism and abusive behaviour and helping to start a important cultural review.
And on the creative side, the last 18 months has seen an EP, a short film, a huge new single, and plenty more.
In the Drawing Room, Jonze discusses music, art, community, healing and the new review.
With a passion for songs and a killer voice, Wanita has dreamed of being a country music star since she was a little girl.
The years have gone by, and a lot of life has happened along the way, but dreams don't have to fade.
And so Wanita set off to Nashville to record an album, with a documentary team in tow.
Several years ago, Omar Musa had reached what he describes as a dark night of the soul. Then, a chance encounter with woodcarving at a show in Borneo gave him a new passion and a chance to connect with the playfulness he'd lost in his work.
His latest book, Killernova, combines prose, poetry and carvings, to become a piece of art as well as a collection of the same.
When a young boy is killed in a hit and run accident and the police close the case for lack of evidence, his mother sets out to take revenge into her own hands.
But vengeance is never easy and wealth is a powerful defence.
Cush Jumbo talks about her starring role in The Beast Must Die.
For the last five years, First Nations Australian composers have been working with Ensemble Offspring to create a new generation of music.
This weekend at the Sydney Opera House, the ensemble will be showcasing the work in a concert titled Composing Songlines.
What happens when the details of our past are set aside and forgotten?
And what does it mean to reclaim the traumas of history and find the stories and people that were left behind?
In Luke Stegemann's book, Amnesia Road, he looks at the histories of Australia and Spain and the ways that their experiences talk to each other.
Here in the After is the the story of Anna and Nat, two broken souls, both with PTSD, struggling to find a place in a world they no longer fit.
Anna is the sole survivor of a Sydney terrorist attack. She is stalked by flashbacks and can't relate to anyone anymore except her little grandson. Nat is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. He is guilt-ridden and angry.
They have so little in common, these two. And yet so much. It is the story of their friendship as they try to find a way to heal.
Sir Howard Panter is a major figure of British theatre, who has made his name behind the scenes.
Australian filmmaker Eva Orner has turned her eye on a range of complicated topics in her documentaries: from asylum seekers to Bikram Choudhury.
Her latest work, Burning, takes viewers into Australia's Black Summer and looks at both the fires themselves and the broader story of climate change in Australia.
Amos Roach is an award-winning musician, dancer and director.
He's been working with the Melbourne International Jazz Festival and the Australian Art Orchestra in their inaugural First Nations artist residency program.
In the Drawing Room, he talks about the six seasons that influenced his new work and playing music with his family.
How would you cope if you found yourself under lockdown, for months, in a small unit, with your mother and your ex?
That was precisely the situation that Neil Kramer found himself in when the Covid pandemic hit New York in 2020.
Over the weeks and months that followed, Neil let the world in on a version of his life through a series of humorous staged photos
That work, Quarantine in Queens, is one of the headline exhibits at the Head On Photo Festival.
Fifty-eight years ago, the US President John F Kennedy was assassinated in a motorcade in Dallas.
It remains one of the defining moments of the 20th Century.
But almost 6 decades after the event, why do so many questions still remain? And how have recently declassified documents changed the official narrative?
Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone has returned to the story of the assassination in a new documentary.
How would you behave at end of the world?
Rachel was a renown artist, but now she's retreated into a hermetic existence: no phone, no internet, and just a single contact with the outside world.
Then, one night, a young woman and her baby turn up at Rachel's house with a story of horror: an invisible threat has spread through the world and everyone is dying.
In the Drawing Room, Inga Simpson talks about writing a post-apocalyptic novel, and her own experience of the Black Summer fires.
From club collaborations to her own atmospheric folk music, Liz Martin has been putting out memorable music for a couple of decades now.
She's one of the artists featured in the Sydney Opera House's Liminal series, a collection of live concerts being streamed online now, and is the Interim CEO of Accessible Arts NSW
In the Drawing Room, Liz talks about performing to an empty room and the lessons the pandemic has taught her about online accessibility.
In the face of her concerns about big issues like climate change, Ramona Koval went in search of what it means to be human.
Looking to both the past and the future, Koval found recurring themes of collaboration, storytelling, and the ability to ask 'why'.
Twenty-six years ago, Garth Nix introduced readers to Sabriel and the world of the Old Kingdom: a land where necromancers raise the dead and one family straddles the boundaries of magic to stop their plans.
Now Nix is taking readers back to the days before Sabriel and introducing her parents, Terciel and Elinor, who have their own adventures to discover.
In a full-contact haunted escape room in Nebraska, contestants make their way through a series of violent cells.
In the final cell a prize awaits, but only if they can reach the end without using the safe word: Reprieve.
Only one team has ever reached the end.
Reprieve is the new horror novel by James Han Mattson, in which explores love, America, and racial fetishm.
What does it feel like to be completely free of constraints and unleash your creativity without restraint?
That's what singer songwriter Dami Im has been discovering while working on her new studio album My Reality.
While Ken Follett was researching his book Fall of Giants, he came to the realisation that no one had wanted World War I to happen. And yet, through a series of seemingly sensible decisions, it had happened anyway.
And, Follet says, "What it made me think was, could it happen again? And of course, whenever I have a thought like that, my next thought is 'could I write a story about it?'"
In the Drawing Room, Follett discusses the resulting novel, Never, and what it would take, in our age of information and international diplomacy, to start a truly global conflict.
When we look up into the night sky - what is looking back at us?
Trevor Paglen is an artist whose work looks at mass surveillance, data collection and secret military bases. And he's the subject of a new documentary, Unseen Skies, by award-winning journalist Yaara Bou Melhem.
"There was something about Morrison that deflected the attentive gaze."
Recently, Scott Morrison became the longest serving Pime Minister of Australia since John Howard. Before that, he spent years as a senior figure in government and in opposition.
But despite that, how well do Australians know the man who leads the nation?
In the Drawing Room, Sean Kelly speaks about his new biography of the Prime Minister, The Game, and why it ended up as much literary criticism as political journalism.
Oscar is a perfectly normal twelve-year-old boy.
So how can he explain to his principal that he has a very good excuse for missing a week of school - it just involved a magic mirror, an Elven city, and a day spent dead. Or at least deadish
In the Drawing Room, Jaclyn Moriarty discusses her latest book, The Astonishing Chronicles of Oscar from Elsewhere.
Lilias Fraser was a pioneer of Australian cinema: one of the country's first female directors.
Her daughter, Jane Castle, is an award-winning cinematographer, who has shot music videos for the likes of Prince and U2.
But Jane's new documentary, When the Camera Stopped Rolling, takes audiences away from the sets and the glamour; it looks at the life behind the camera and at the trauma and the desires that drove them both.
Paintings by the great masters of the Renaissance are revered around the world. They are also exceedingly rare.
So what happens when a new work emerges—the long lost Salvator Mundi—that is believed to be by the hand of Leonardo Da Vinci himself?
A new documentary, The Lost Leonardo, follows that story: from a small, but exciting purchase to a sale at auction of $450 million and a connection to the great powers of world politics.
Beloved Australian writer Thomas Keneally has never been short of a story to capture the imagination of Australia and the world.
Iin his latest book, Tom is showing audiences a bit of his own world, or at least his thoughts on the state of the world around him.
In the Drawing Room, he discusses economics, Mungo Man, and our collective unconscious.
A new series, The First Knowledges, seeks to introduce readers to the innovation and science of Australia's First Nations people, and to explore how that history can become part of our present and our future.
Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe are the co-authors of the latest work in the series: Country: Future Fire, Future Farming.
Whether it's on Gardening Australia or just in his own yard, Costa Georgiadis is an enthusiastic advocate for the natural world.
In his new book, Costa's World, he shares his experience on sustainability, community and chooks.
How do you create interactive theatre when the audience can't leave their home?
The global pandemic has been a nightmare for theatre companies around the world and we've seen many different solutions as troupes find ways to work around the restrictions.
Swamp Motel created something completely different - an interactive story that has the audience hunting the web for clues, hacking corporate accounts, and unearthing old conspiracies.
Rosemary Laing is an acclaimed Australian artist, whose interventions on the landscape disrupt and challenge our normal perspectives and speak to the culture, the history, and the context of the land that she depicts.
For many of us, sharks tend to be a source of fear.
But for Valerie Taylor, they've been a wonderful part of her life, with personalities as varied as puppies.
Valerie has swum with sharks all over the world, captured remarkable footage, and led conservation efforts to get us to rethink our relationship with these animals.
A new film, Valerie Taylor: Playing With Sharks, tells the story of Valerie's work and adventures.
Mobile apps and games have become central to the way that most of us interact with the world.
Industries as diverse as gambling and education are looking for ways to use gamification to increase their impact.
But can games help in assessing and treating the way we think?
Dr Azadeh Feizpour and Dr Simone Gindidis - guests of the Games for Change Festival - explore their research and development in the field of child psychology.
She was perhaps Australia's first true global superstar: a nightingale with a voice that enchanted the world.
And her own story is a tale to match any of the operas that she performed on the stage.
Robert Wainwright explores how Helen Porter Mitchell become Dame Nellie Melba and what drove her to such great heights.
"Long ago, there was a world of wonders - of what you and I might call magic"
In their new book, Dark Rise, C. S. Pacat brings readers a version of London far removed from our own. Magic has long since faded away, but there are remnants of power and ancient orders of good and evil who fight in secret to restore their version of that world.
In the Drawing Room, Pacat discusses their love for British pastoral fantasies and how they set out to include the people that were left out of the books that they read growing up.
Christopher Doyle has brought audiences some of the most captivating moments in cinema.
But who is the man behind the camera? And what drives his vision of the world?
In the Drawing Room, Doyle and director Ted McDonnell discuss Like The Wind - a new documentary that examines Doyle's life and work.
From war zones in Afghanistan to the Raskols of PNG, photojournalist and artist Stephen Dupont has shown us the world.
In his latest exhibition, Are We Dead Yet?, Stephen has turned his lens on Australia, capturing the fires, the floods and the droughts that have swept the country over the last few years.
Zana Fraillon is an award winning author whose books have been inspired by the stories of refugees, of slavery and of Australia's forgotten generation.
But in her latest children's book, The Curiosities, she was inspired by a very personal story: her own child's.
It's illustrated by Phil Lesnie and celebrates neurodiversity and the differences between us all.
In Tim Bonyhady's new book, Two Afternoons in the Kabul Stadium, he looks at the modern history of Afghanistan, the way that cultural symbols and women's rights have changed over the last hundred years, and the way that images have shaped our understanding of the country.
In the Drawing Room, Bonyhady discusses the afternoons of the title - a great unveiling and a brutal execution - and the complexities in between.
A symphony orchestra is a remarkable thing: dozens of musicians all working in perfect harmony to bring the most complicated and sublime music to our stages.
And at the front of that stage - the conductor - bringing it all together.
Jaime Martin is one of the stars of this world and, in the Drawing Room, he talks about his own path to the baton and explains how a conductor is like a football coach.
Richard Pleasance is a celebrated musician and producer, a founding member of Boom Crash Opera, and, for the last couple of decades, he's been bringing the Australian screen to life with his captivating scores.
Now he's back with his first solo album since 1995, Crooked River, a collection of instrumental tracks designed to inspire a painter's imagination.
The fires of 2019 and 2020 were shocking in their intensity. They destroyed forests and homes, threatened communities and blanketed entire states in smoke.
Fires is a new drama series that takes us into the blazes of that summer and the lives impacted by them, finding human stories of loss, community and resilience.
In the Drawing Room, co-creator Tony Ayres talks about the show and about his new Netflix series, Clickbait.
Yves Rees is a historian and writer, who has examined the story of Australia.
But in their latest book, Yves is telling a different story: their own.
As Yves looked at their path to transness they saw many beginnings and many questions and in their new memoir they're embracing them all.
After years of touring together, Lior and Domini are releasing their first EP as a duo.
In the Drawing Room, they discuss harmonies, life on the road, and being reminded of the wisdom of age.
From the outside, Klara and Dante seem to have the perfect lives: successful careers, a good marriage, and a close family.
But long-held secrets bring everything crashing down when Dante ends up in intensive care and Klara discovers that he was found in a gay sauna.
In the Drawing Room, Filip Vukašin discusses his debut novel, Modern Marriage, balancing medicine and writing, and the cost of secrets.
We live in interesting times, and, whether it's pandemic lockdowns or climate change, there's a lot to think about how we engage with the world around us.
In the remote hills of New Zealand, a family is taking advantage of the off-season to have the wilderness to themselves.
But when they run across two violent drifters, the idyllic holiday turns into a nightmare.
And as the story unfolds, this seemingly random act of violence reveals a connection to a long buried secret.
In the Drawing Room, director James Ashcroft and actor Erik Thomson discuss their new film, Coming Home In The Dark, based on a short story by Owen Marshall.
Pleasure, the new film by Ninja Thyberg, follows the story of a young woman with dreams of becoming the next big name in adult movies.
It's a provocative piece, which brings a female gaze to the porn industry and looks at the compromises it takes to reach the top.
There are moments in all of our lives when everything changes, even if we don't realise it until much later.
When Nikki Gemmell's fiancé turned to her in a neighbourhood restaurant and called off the wedding with the words 'I can't do it', it was crushing.
But it also led to Gemmell embracing her own voice as a writer.
In the Drawing Room, Gemmell pays tribute to the power of female creativity, looks back at the wisdom of the women who came before her, and talks about her new book Dissolve.
With multiple bands and a long list of well known musicians on his session list, Nick Garbett's trumpet is a part of the Australian sound.
A few years ago, after receiving a prestigious Freedman Jazz Fellowship, Nick relocated to Lampedusa and started recording with his long-time friend Mike Majkowski in Berlin.
The result is a very different new album called The Glider.
Edible and delicious food is all around us. Not just Australian native plants, but even the weeds that we see everyday, if we just know how to look.
In The Drawing Room, Adam Grubb and Annie Raser-Rowland talk about their own paths to foraging, their favourite recipes, and their new book Let's Eat Weeds.
Sixteen years ago, Morris Gleitzman introduced audiences to Felix: a young Jewish boy struggling to survive during the Holocaust.
Over time, what was originally a stand-alone book become a beloved series.
In the Drawing Room, Gleitzman talks about the power of friendship and saying goodbye to Felix, with the seventh and final book in the series: Always.
Is it possible to bring water to the desert? To force a cloud to burst into rain when and where you want?
And if it is possible, what are the ethical questions of actually doing it?
In the Drawing Room, Tuija Halttunen talks about her new documentary, How To Kill a Cloud, which follows the work of a Finnish scientist, Hannele Korhonnen, who received a grant from the United Arab Emirates to work on the science of cloudseeding
In the midst of the Second World War, in Paris, a young woman is drafted to work at an art gallery where the highest members of the Nazi forces show up to divvy out great artworks between themselves.
In the present day, a woman fleeing her own grief is forced to confront a family secret.
Natasha Lester's latest book, The Riviera House, melds these two stories and takes readers into a history of art, fashion, and remarkable women.
Dragging trucks, tossing cars, picking up huge stones, the strongman and strongwoman competitions have shown us remarkable physical feats by people who push against the limits of what most of us would consider possible.
Strong Women, a new documentary series, takes viewers onto the competition floors and behind the scenes, where four strongwomen speak candidly about their lives.
The canopies of our forests contain dizzying amounts of life and provide ecosystems that are completely different to the world below, but, until quite recently, scientists didn't think to look up from the forest floor.
Meg Lowman, PhD, is a pioneer in forest ecology: taking science into the highest branches and inspiring generations of researchers.
In The Drawing Room, Meg discusses her path to science, her homemade equipment and her new book, The Arbornaut.
Thelma Beeton is an award winning artist who creates bright, happy paintings inspired by her totem, the Tasmanian emu.
She's part of an exhibition on at the moment with her friend Stacey titled BANJ BANJ / NAWNTA or Sister / Sister.
But her path to art wasn't the typical journey. Thelma is part of The Torch program, which provides art and cultural support to Indigenous women and men who have had experience with Victoria's criminal justice system.
A drummer, a documentary film maker, and an artist, Tina Havelock Stevens has travelled the world creating works that speak to the places that she finds.
From arts patrons watching a three-day long performance to a curious cow on the route of Apocalypse Now, Tina introduces us to her work and the audiences that she's seen along the way.
Lottie Lovinger was a star of the screen, a foundational piece of the horror genre, and a grand dame of theatre.
Her granddaughter, Ellie Marsden, looked set to follow in her footsteps, but a terrible experience on her first film set brought everything crashing down.
Now Lottie is dying and Ellie has to figure out how to forgive her grandmother and how to move on with her life.
Danielle Binks talks about her new novel, The Monster of Her Age.
For four decades, Masamoto Ueda and his wife, Kazuko, have been running a small ramen shop in Tokyo. Over the years, they've slowly perfected their recipe and created a community for themselves and their customers.
In his new documentary, Come Back Anytime, John Daschbach takes audiences into the kitchen, the farm and the lives of the people who call the place home.
Bunny King is a single mother, working as a squeegee bandit at the stoplights, living on her sister's couch and desperately trying to get her children back from a system that doesn't seem to care.
But despite that bleak setup, The Justice of Bunny King is a wonderful journey full of heart, that balances humour and pathos.
In the Drawing Room, Gaysorn Thavat talks about her long path to directing and the conversations behind the film.
Are your knives precisely placed? Do your dishes match your meal? Is your centrepiece the right height?
Welcome to the world of competitive table setting, where people work for months to design the perfect layout and take home the most coveted award: Best In Show!
Scott Gawlik takes us into his new documentary, Set!, which follows 9 competitors as they gear up for the 2019 Orange County show.
Towards the end of the Second World War, allied forces conducted a massive firebombing campaign on Japanese cities.
It's estimated that, in Tokyo, one hundred thousand people died during the bombings and more than a million were made homeless.
A new documentary, Paper City, follows a group of survivors as they fight to keep the memory of those events alive and to gain recognition from the Japanese government.
Last year, Yola's debut solo album saw her nominated for a batch of Grammy awards.
Next year, she'll be playing Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the new Baz Luhrmann film, Elvis.
And right now, Yola's remarkable new album, Stand For Myself, is winning critical praise around the world.
Srishti Bakshi was a successful marketer, working in Hong Kong, but keeping up to date with the news back home in India.
Then, one day, she read about the brutal assault of a mother and daughter and wanted to do something. So she went home and started walking.
Over many months, Srishti walked almost 4 thousand kilometres; meeting the people of her country and running workshops on equality.
The journey has been captured in a new film, WOMB or Women Of My Billion.
Matt DeHart claims that he was investigated by the US government because he had sensitive files that the government didn't want leaked.
In 2015 he pled guilty and was sentenced on two counts of receiving child pornography.
A new documentary, Enemies of the State, looks at his story, and it begins with an Oscar Wilde quote "The truth is rarely pure and never simple".
Every four years (give or take) the best athletes in the world come together in one place to compete for the highest honour: an Olympic gold medal.
A new comedy series, The Power of The Dream, follows two women with dreams of gold as they train for their big day.
But their belief is a lot stronger than their talent.
The best cabaret always looks to provoke as well as entertainment; to change the audience's perspective or show them something new.
Durkh a Modnem Gloz (Through a Strange Lens), the new work by Galit Klas and electronic producer Josh Abrahams, is bringing audiences a unique experience: an electronic Weimar Cabaret, based on the writing of female Yiddish poets.
It's been a busy few years for HTRK, with a new album, a film score, and a radio residency.
In the Drawing Room, Jonnine Standish and Nigel Yang talk studio etiquette, song writing, and picking up the acoustic guitar under lockdown.
Two writers, both shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, present very different stories that capture the current time.
In The Labyrinth, Amanda Lohrey takes readers to a remote part of Australia as a woman moves to be near to her son's prison and to find herself.
And in The Rain Heron, Robbie Arnott imagines a very different world, where myths may actually be real, but some people want to abuse them for their own power.
What does it mean to revive and reclaim your art and culture? And to see your own work in the galleries where your history has been on display?
Elisa Jane Carmichael is a rising star: she's a finalist at this year's Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards and six of her woven works have recently been acquired by the British Museum.
And her work is helping to revive the art of Quandamooka weaving, which was banned under colonisation.
From Triple J Unearthed favourite to Australia's Eurovision star, Montaigne has been capturing fans wherever she goes.
In the Drawing Room, she looks back on her path to music, explores the complications of social media, and explains when she realised she wasn't competitive enough for professional sport.
The final year of high school can be an intense time: everything is about to end and everything is about to begin.
Abbie and PB are best friends, with days of schoolwork, gossip and parties, but for Abbie, there may be a bigger change coming than she realised.
In the Drawing Room, Madelaine Nunn talks about her new play, Cactus.
In 2015 Amani Haydar was finding success at work, happily married, and pregnant for the first time, when the absolutely unthinkable happened.
Her mother was killed by her father in a terrible act of domestic violence.
In her new book, The Mother Wound, Amani tells her own story and looks at the myths and the impact of domestic abuse.
Sharp-tongued and quick-witted, Reuben Kaye has built an enviable reputation as a cabaret star on the stages of London and Paris.
But early in 2020, Kaye had to deal with vocal surgery and his hardest challenge yet: silence.
Now, back in full form and weathering out the pandemic in Australia, Kaye takes us into his life on and off the stage, and explains how to subvert extremely masculine songs through the power of cabaret.
In 2018, J.P. Shilo was commissioned to compose a new work for the grand organ in Melbourne's Town Hall.
Working late at night in the building, Shilo was reminded of a dream he had experienced, and that dream became the inspiration for his composition.
That performance has just been released as a new album, Jubjoté.
Linda Jackson and Jenny Kee are icons of the fashion world.
They took Australia clothing onto the world stage and led the way to a new sense of style by embracing the colours and the nature that sets this country apart.
Their collaboration and their friendship are the focus of a new documentary: Step Into Paradise.
The workplace has been in a state of flux for decades now and Covid is likely to make things even trickier.
So what are the key skills we all need in order to find our way into the job we want?
Andrea Clarke looks at the disruption-proof skills that she believes are the key to success.
Unlike traditional anthropologists, Adam Rish has always wanted to collaborate and to interfere.
Inspired by many different artistic traditions and cultures, Rish has worked with artists and craftspeople around the world to create a style very much his own.
Misanthropology: The World Art of Adam Rish, is a new biography, which collects his art and explores his career.
The debut album by Quivers felt like the start of something big: a wonderful collection of songs that saw them embraced in Australia and in America.
Last year was looking to be a major step forward for the band, with a new album and a major US tour in the works, but then 2020 happened.
The new album, Golden Doubt, is out now, and it was worth the wait.
How do we care about the big issues of the world without overwhelming ourselves?
Or look after ourselves, without losing sight of the world?
In the Drawing Room, Brooke McAlary talks about her new book, Care: The Radical Art of Taking Time.
Aunty Pat Ockwell is an senior Wurundjeri elder.
For decades she's been a tireless worker for Aboriginal rights and an important figure in organisations like Aboriginal Housing Victoria and the Koori Court.
In her new memoir, written with Pauline Mackinnon, Aunty Pat is telling her story: not just the remarkable work she's done, but the family, friends and elders that have been with her along the way.
Wendy Cooper has discovered new species and written books describing the fruit and the plants of Australia.
And she did most of it alongside her husband, William T. Cooper, who was one of the greatest scientific painters of nature in the world.
In her new book, The Botanical Art of William T. Cooper, Wendy has collected Bill's botanical sketches and paintings, alongside her own stories of their time together.
Echolalia, the new novel by Briohny Doyle, is the story of a family gone wrong and one unthinkable act.
From the outside, Emma has a perfect life, so why does she wake paralysed with fear from nightmares and why does she feel threatened by her new baby?
In the Drawing Room, Doyle discusses class, climate change, and taboo topics in writing.
Writing songs in a sitting and playing to empty concert halls, that's how life has gone for Cash Savage.
How do you pivot to digital when you've never touched a mobile phone? And how do you hold power to account when you're considered untouchable?
Khabar Lahariya is the only paper in India founded by Dalit women, and remains the only outlet staffed and run entirely by women.
Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas introduce audiences to the women behind the paper in their new documentary, Writing With Fire.
Based on the novel by Patricia Grace and only the third feature film to be written and directed by Maori women, Cousins is a deeply felt and wonderfully told film, tracing the lives of three women across the decades.
In the Drawing Room, the creative team of Briar Grace-Smith and Ainsley Gardiner talk about their own path to this story, the characters at the heart of the film, and their collaborative approach to directing.
Four years ago, Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion took readers on a walk along the Camino de Santiago as their characters, Zoe and Martin, rediscovered themselves and fell in love.
But sometimes life gets in the way and love falls by the wayside.
Now, years later, a friend asks for advice on her own pilgrimage and Martin and Zoe have a chance to meet up again on the trail.
Why are emperor penguins one of the coolest dads? And what changes with fatherhood when a species is polyandrous?
Erna Walraven is the Emeritus Senior Curator at Taronga Zoo and in her new book, Wild Fathers, she looks at the way animals of all different stripes approach finding a mate and raising a child.
As Bob Evans, and as part of Jebediah, Kevin Mitchell has created his fair share of beloved songs, but he's got plenty more up his sleeve.
With the release of his sixth album as Bob Evans, Tomorrowland, Mitchell talks about embracing middle-age, expressing his opinions, and the silver linings he found when the music industry paused during lockdown.
Behind the walls of Sydney's glitziest houses is a web of secrets and strained relationships.
And when a sixteen million-dollar necklace is stolen during an extravagant birthday party, the secrets begin to unravel.
Michelle Vergara Moore and Toby Leonard Moore talk about their new show, The Unusual Suspects, and performing together as a married couple.
For many of us, sharks tend to be a source of fear.
But for Valerie Taylor, they've been a wonderful part of her life, with personalities as varied as puppies.
Valerie has swum with sharks all over the world, captured remarkable footage, and led conservation efforts to get us to rethink our relationship with these animals.
A new film, Valerie Taylor: Playing With Sharks, tells the story of Valerie's work and adventures.
For decades, the Venice Biennale has seen Australia's top artists given a chance to present their work on the world stage.
But it turns out that our history with festival stretches back to its earliest years, in the late 19th Century.
Kerry Gardner has uncovered that history for a new book, Australia and the Venice Biennale.
Monet, Renoir, and Degas are among the most revered names in art, but when they began their work they were mocked and rejected by the establishment.
So how did impressionism go on to become so beloved and what did it change about the way we view art now?
A new exhibition at the NGV showcases works by the French impressionists collected by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The times and the fashions may have changed, but murder is still on the agenda.
Taking audiences into the 1960s, Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries is a spin-off from the highly successful Miss Fisher series
In The Drawing Room, Geraldine Hakewill and Joel Jackson chat about fashion, crafting a character and their own favourite mysteries.
What does it mean to be a veteran in Australia today?
And how can art help to tell the stories of service and of return?
Sean Burton and Rory Cushnahan discuss their art, their experiences, and their new exhibition at the Shrine of Remembrance.
Lynette Wallworth is a multi Emmy-award winning filmmaker and artist, who has shown her work to powerful figures at the UN and travelled into the Amazon to film the story of a shaman.
For her latest work, Wallworth is taking to the stage and telling the story of her own coming of age: of stepping away from her community and finding herself.
Theatre told through headphones in the middle of the city; a collaboration with an improvisational jazz band; and a Hindu god taking on the Third Reich: Back To Back Theatre are one of the country's most creative and experimental theatrical teams.
Simon Laherty and Bruce Gladwin look back over two decades of creation, as the group prepares to present three classic shows at the Rising Festival.
A time-travelling drag queen, an adult tomboy, and a whole host of secondary characters: Queer As Flux is a big show.
But it's all brought to the stage by a single person: Stace Callaghan.
In the Drawing Room, Stace discusses binaries, queer history, and their own path to the stage.
What goes into the design of an iconic car?
When GM opened a design studio in Australia, it was only their third one in the world. The work done there went on to have a huge impact, locally and internationally.
What happened behind those doors? And what's changed now that it's gone?
When telling the story of someone's life, or their death, is it the details that matter? Or should you try to capture the truth of the person, even if the facts don't quite add up?
In the Drawing Room, Nadine Garner talks about The Lifespan of a Fact, which takes audiences into that debate, as a prestigious magazine tries to fact check a brilliantly written essay with the deadline fast approaching.
Matt Gilbertson, aka Hans the International German Wonder Boy, found a worldwide audience during his two stints on 'America's Got Talent' variety television competition.
After trying to 'Make America glitter again', Matt reflects on how he handled trolling from conservative Americans, performing during a pandemic and what he's learned on taking Sing-Along-A Sound of Music on tour through regional Australia
Leah Crocetto had an untraditional path to opera, but she's become a star, singing Puccini at The Metropolitan Opera and Verdi at The Kennedy Centre.
Now, for her first performance since Covid shut down the industry, she's taken on the title role of Aida in the Opera Australia's latest production.
Over the last century, Disney have built a collection of more than 65 million pieces of art.
From the original design sketches to the final animation cels, it's all been stored in a carefully maintained and guarded library, which is only available to Disney employees.
Mary Walsh is the managing director of the Animation Research Library and in the Drawing Room, she talks about the eras of animation, digital preservation, and the exhibition of the work in Australia.
For six years, the Refuge program has invited artists to imagine how we might prepare for a natural disaster.
And between a pandemic, fires, and climate events, the last few years have shown that their work isn't just a matter of imagination.
Latai Taumoepeau's latest work is Mass Movement: an audio pilgrimage about departure, arrival and displacement
Black Thoughts by Ziggy Ramo was one of the most important Australian albums of 2020, with songs that engaged with the biggest political issues of the time.
So it's even more impressive that it was originally recorded back in 2015.
In the Drawing Room, Ramo talks about his path to music, and Australia's past and present.
Richard Tognetti, the artistic director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, on returning to the stage, his penchant for experimentation, and keeping the ACO alive during difficult times.
"During the night preceding the taking away of the novices, considerable sexual license is allowed."
That's a quote from R.H. Mathews, an anthropologist who embedded himself with the Wiradjuri back in the early 1900s.
And it's the starting point for a new work by the award-winning dancer and choreographer, Joel Bray.
The Masnavi by the Persian poet Rumi is widely considered one of the greatest poems in history, and it lies at the heart of the new musical project by Hamed Sadeghi
In the Drawing Room, Sadeghi discusses his own relationship with the poem, fusing musical traditions, and finding an identity when nowhere truly feels like home.
When Felicity Urquhart and Josh Cunningham joined a club of fellow musicians, they had no idea where it would lead.
A simple project to keep the creativity flowing, write and share one song each week, has ended up producing an album, a tour, and a lasting collaboration.
Buried Not Dead, a collection of essays covering the last twenty-five years takes readers from the nightclub to the museum and investigates performance art, sexuality and the worlds in between.
It's been a decade since the release of Hurtsville by Jack Ladder & the Dreamlanders, which means that it's a good time for birthday celebrations.
In the Drawing Room, Timothy Rogers looks back at a decade on the road and opens up about a complicated 2020.
What does it take to excel at ultra-marathon running?
When Kay Bretz found himself in a rut, in his running and at his job, he found his path to excitement again by breaking his routines and making an unexpected decision.
In September last year, Michael Smith was evacuated from China after being questioned by state security.
That followed the ejection of more than a dozen foreign journalists and brought an end, at least for now, to the Australian Financial Review's China bureau.
Michael has written about his time in China in a new book, The Last Correspondent.
The Father began life as a play, taking out awards in each new country it was staged in.
Now the film version has continued that tradition, winning Oscars for best actor and best adapted screenplay.
The movie brings the audience inside the dementia of the man at its centre, played by Anthony Hopkins, and grounds a complicated story in a simple emotional truth.
M'ap Boulé, the new show by Nancy Denis, mixes music and storytelling to look at the history of Haiti and her own experience as a child of immigrants.
In the Drawing Room, Denis talks revolution, education and Haitian Creole.
When Robin Fox was commissioned to design a laser show for Brisbane, he found that only industrial cutting lasers were bright enough light up a city.
But what sort of safety measures do you need when you're creating a beam of light that can be seen dozens of kilometres away?
In the Drawing Room, Fox discusses laser safety, mechanical synaesthesia, and the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award.
Several years ago, at a flea market in Victoria, Mayu Kanamori came across a collection of hundreds of photos from Japan's Showa period.
They were part of a deceased estate, but that was all the information Mayu was able to get. There were no names, no dates, no details at all.
And so Mayu has set out to discover the story behind the photos, with a new exhibition Untitled.Showa.
In 2019, Forbes Magazine wrote an article describing Kylie Jenner as the world's youngest self-made billionaire. The internet had opinions.
Enter stage left: Shari Sebbens and Moreblessing Maturure, the director and co-star of seven methods of killing kylie jenner, a recent play that merges memes and monologues to explore online identity, youthful mistakes and the politics of race.
Ahead of sharing the bill at April Sun, the two stars share their thoughts on friendship, the highs and lows of the fickle entertainment industry, and staying happy while stuck at home.
Fungi might seem small and delicate, but below the surface they can weigh hundreds of tonnes, push through asphalt with explosive force, and tie the world together in ways we are only just beginning to understand.
The biologist and author Merlin Sheldrake takes us truffle hunting, explores the idea of non-human intellect, and explains how LSD helped his research.
What does it take to be at the peak of the dance world and earn the respect, not only of your audience, but also your peers?
Nathan Brook recently won both the Rising Star and the People's Choice award at the Telstra Ballet Dancer Awards.
In a world not quite like our own, werewolves and selkies mingle with bikie gangs and hang out in nail salons.
And while Dreckly Jones, a 140 year-old sprite, never wanted to be a hero, she might not have a choice any more.
Maria Lewis chats about The Rose Daughter, the seventh book in the Supernatural Sisters series.
When might a paper round be the most dangerous job in the world?
When it pits you against a league of evil grannies, armed with deadly hankies.
Charlie and the War Against the Grannies began life as a successful children's book, written by Alan Brough. Now it's a musical theatre extravaganza.
Samantha Crain describes her latest EP as her 'breath of relief, sighed after this really intense journey I was on.'
Several years ago, Samantha had to deal with a nightmare situation: an injury which meant she might never be able to play again.
Have you ever loved a band so much that you just knew that they were going to become the biggest name in the world, but then they just disappeared?
Bleeding Audio is a new documentary that follows The Matches: a band that almost became huge.
Five years ago, Hayley Millar Baker was given a box of her grandfather's photos and it completely changed the way she approached her art.
Hayley set aside painting and turned to photographic art full-time, using composite images to tell her family's story and to present an Indigenous side to Australian history.
How do we imagine Australia? What are the symbols and stories that have defined our understanding of this country and our place in it?
And how much do the meaning of those symbols change, depending on who's looking at them?
Evelyn Araluen examines the Australian canon in her debut poetry collection, Dropbear.
Richard Fitzpatrick is a marine biologist who has spent a lot of his career taking in the beauty of the reefs and the thrill of hungry sharks; travelling to the sort of places most of us will never get to visit in person.
Fortunately he's also an Emmy Award winning cinematographer, so he's happy to take everyone along with him on the journey.
How much surveillance are you willing to tolerate in the name of public safety?
That's the question at the heart of We See It All: Liberty and Justice in the Age of Perpetual Surveillance, the new book by Jon Fasman.
What memories of the past are contained in the land around us?
From the No. 4 reactor in Chernobyl to the land around Fukushima and a destroyed migrant settlement in Calais, Stanislava Pinchuk has been mapping the world's conflict and disaster zones.
In the Drawing Room, she explores her own connection to those lands.
It was meant to be a simple holiday baseball game: a match between the prison guards and their inmates.
But when a bus full of the guards' families is shot off the road within sight of the prison, it leads to something unthinkable: more than 600 inmates free and on the run.
The Chase is the latest book by the hugely successful Australian crime writer Candice Fox.
Jaimen Hudson came to international attention for his drone footage of dolphins and whales playing in the surf.
But for Jaimen, being above the water wasn't enough.
A new documentary follows his quest to become the first underwater cinematographer with quadriplegia.
What happens when you let a composer loose on a giant pipe organ after a year away from live music?
On his latest album, Ephemera, Ehsan Gelsi used the Melbourne Town Hall organ to create a remarkable prog rock space opera.
Recently nominated for multiple Academy awards, The Father began life as a critically acclaimed play.
The movie brings the audience inside the dementia of the man at its centre, played by Anthony Hopkins, and grounds a complicated story in a simple emotional truth.
For decades, The Umbilical Brothers' mastery of physical comedy has taken them to stages around the world.
After a difficult year for performers, they're finally back in the flesh. But fortunately they're easing audiences back in, adding screens and special effects to make everyone feel more at home.
What does it take to be the best in the world?
Not necessarily the best athlete or the best CEO, but the best at whatever you do, whether that's driving a taxi or guiding toilet tours?
Joshua Belinfante has travelled the world to meet people pursuing their passions for a new documentary called The World's Best Film.
What story do the art and the objects of a country tell us about its history and its culture?
Iranzamin, a new exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, is showcasing objects from their collection that focus on the Qajar era of Iran.
Any major event has the potential to reshape the world in ways we may not even expect.
While many of us yearn to return to normal, what lessons should we take from the global pandemic and what changes are worth hanging on to?
Sophie Cousins looks at Australia's response to the pandemic and a plan for the future in her new book, Renewal.
What do you want in your sex life? And how does that compare to what's actually going on?
It's a topic that tends to remain very private, and that means that many people may not have examined their own expectations and desires.
In their new book, Great Sexpectations, Gemma Cribb and James Findlay look to open up that conversation.
Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, and at certain points in history has been as valuable as gold.
But, despite the expense, it's been used as a medicine, a dye, and remains an important flavour in many cuisines
In her latest book, Ramin Ganeshram looks back and the long and very global history of Saffron.
When Victorian artist Rone first started putting out art, he'd work at night, risking fines and prosecution.
These days his work hangs in major galleries and he's regularly invited to take over walls, buildings and even silos.
A new exhibition, Rone in Geelong, provides a survey of the last two decades of work, as well as a major new installation with collaborators Nick Batterham and Carly Spooner.
Images of wildlife can give us a lens into a part of the world we've never thought about before.
But what does it take to get the perfect shot? And can a picture change the world?
Kelly Walker has been making movies since she was twelve, back when her family were getting tired of being cast in the roles.
Now, after a move to LA and years in front of the camera, Walker's feature debut, My Fiona, is about to hit cinemas.
But she didn't expect that the film's exploration of grief would hit so incredibly close to home.
Ken Done is one of Australia's most recognised and recognisable artists.
His brightly coloured paintings have adorned the walls of Australia's most important galleries and are synonymous with a time in Australian culture.
A recent monograph with Amber Creswell Bell looks back on his work and his life so far.
After hearing many women ask, with absolute horror, 'Will I become an old woman?' Martha Hickey wanted to change the perception on aging.
That has led to a new exhibition, Flesh After Fifty, which includes a series of hundreds of naked images taken by Ponch Hawkes and seeks to remind the world that older women exist and are happy in their lives.
In 2019, the World Surfing League matched the prize money between the men's and the women's competitions.
But why did it take so long?
In the Drawing Room, Pauline Menczer shares stories from her time on the pro circuit, and introduces us to the new documentary, Girls Can't Surf.
How much do we owe our very existence to chance?
The Earth is a large and complex place and it has been shaped by major events that occurred long before we were ever around.
So how did we come to be here?
In the Drawing Room, Sean B. Carroll walks us through A Series of Fortunate Events.
Nomadland was a big winner at the Golden Globes this year, but before it was a movie it was a deeply researched book.
Jessica Bruder spent three years following a community of older Americans who took to the road, living in caravans and cars, when retirement wasn't an option.
After years of dismissive doctors and unhelpful misinformation, Bridget Hustwaite was finally diagnosed with endometriosis a few years ago.
That diagnosis was a bitter-sweet moment, and led Bridget to create an online community, Endogram, and to write her first book, How To Endo, which she has dedicated to her fifteen year-old self.
"The story of war has always been a masculine story, but this was not true for Ethiopia and it has never been that way in any form of struggle."
The first novel by Maaza Mengiste took readers back to the 1970s and the revolution in Ethiopia. Her latest, The Shadow King, heads further into that country's history: to the Italian invasion in 1935.
Mengiste talks about the role of women in war, and why her great-grandmother sued for custody of her father's gun.
Hari Sivanesan is a musician and composer.
Priya Srinivasan is a dancer, scholar, and writer.
And they have both performed at major events around the world.
In the Drawing Room they discuss their art, the festival that they've co-founded, and why Australia needs to embrace its own local talent.
The Glass Hotel, the latest novel by Emily St John Mandel, takes readers into a foreign country: one whose boundaries are defined by money.
Inspired by Bernie Madoff and the 2008 financial crisis, Mandel gives life to high financiers, trophy wives, and the people on the outskirts.
And in a story of ghosts and regrets, she shows how much of a life can be invisible, and what it means to see.
The last century has seen huge steps forward for women's rights: at the ballot box; in the home; and in the workplace.
But has that progress been universal? And in whose image have those rights been shaped?
Koa Beck looks at the history of feminism and points to a more collective future.
When Rebecca Lim saw her daughter's school recommended reading list, she realised that it had barely changed in the three decades since she'd been a student there.
And that people like her, and her daughter, were still not reflected in the books that they were given.
And so Rebecca set out to make a change: by writing her own book.
In the midst of the Russian Winter, a German military unit turned the estate of Leo Tolstoy into a field hospital.
In his latest novel, prize-winning author Steven Conte has used this true moment in history to create a grand tale of conflict and romance.
Tim McKew started off as a child star before entering the world of cabaret.
He's performed on small stages with Nick Cave and took on Berlin before the fall of the wall.
In the Drawing Room, Tim shares his adventures and talks about taking on the role of Noël Coward
How does a museum exhibition become a special space: separate from the world outside?
And can that connection remain after you've left the building?
Seb Chan talks about his role as the Chief Experience Officer at ACMI and why he believes the story is an essential part of curation.
Lewis Major is one of the rising stars of Australian dance, with works presented around the world.
In the Drawing Room, he talks about his journey from the shearing shed to the spotlight and explains how he put together a new show where the audience will be cars.
Judges interpret the law and sometimes help to define the nature of a country, but few become household names, and even fewer do it across the world.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg is the rare exception.
Ruth: Justice Ginsberg In Her Own Words, the new film by Academy Award winner Freida Lee Mock, uses archival footage to look back on Ginsberg's life and the times in which she rose to prominence.
Being seventeen is never easy, and it's even harder when you're coming to terms with your sexuality.
The Boy From The Mish is the new novel by Gary Lonesborough, and it introduces readers to Jackson, a young Indigenous man, as he experiences his first love and figures out who he wants to be.
Archie Roach has been one of Australia's most important musicians ever since his iconic debut album, Charcoal Lane.
Last year, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its release, Archie re-recorded the songs from Charcoal Lane at his home on Gunditjmara country.
In the Drawing Room, Archie looks back on that first album, and shares his own stories.
Unsound, a new Australian film, takes audiences to a deaf community centre in Sydney, where a young man is running a series of night clubs.
One night, after a disappointing early end, a chance encounter with a disillusioned musician leads to the possibility of love.
But it's not easy, when both men are trying to figure out their place in the world.
Kate Crawford suggests that AI isn't artificial and nor is it intelligence.
And rather than getting caught up in technical details, we should be looking at how AI changes our society and what it takes to keep these systems running.
In the Drawing Room, Crawford provides a map into these uncharted waters.
When Jeremy Spinak was 36, he learnt that he had a rare form of cancer and had months to live.
He decided that he wanted to leave a message behind for his children: his story and his reflections as he faced the end.
Computer algorithms are mostly invisible, but they play a central role in the way we live our lives.
When they work well it's like magic; but when they don't, things can get very complicated.
Shalini Katayya talks about her documentary, Coded Bias, which looks at the risks of machine learning.
The voices of Vika and Linda Bull have been lifting the spirit of listeners for decades now.
That continued last year when, under isolation, they shared a series of gospel songs with fans on social media.
With the lockdowns around Australia during 2020, running has been an increasingly popular way to get exercise and to explore the world.
Shaun Gladwell has always shown an interest in movement in his art, and his latest exhibition, Homo Suburbiensis, shows him taking to the streets with the rest of us.
A new comedy on ABC TV is taking audiences into the world of celebrity chefs behaving badly.
Erik Thomson talks about his character, Easton West, who has burnt his last bridge, in a rather spectacular viral moment, and is headed home to the hills of Adelaide to lick his wounds.
What does it mean to write about nature? For someone to express their relationship with the land and their own place in it.
Every two years, the Nature Writing Prize seeks out the best nature writing in the country.
Australia has been occupied and damaged by alien invaders, and a handful of survivors must fight back
In his new film, Occupation Rainfall, Luke Sparke is bringing the blockbuster to Australia.
Stephen Maxwell Johnson and Witiyana Marika talk about their new film, High Ground, which takes audiences back to the 1930s in Australia, near the end of the frontier wars.
The story begins a decade earlier, when a group of white soldiers massacre an Indigenous community, setting off a chain reaction of guilt and revenge.
Emma Donovan has been singing since she was a child, originally as part of her family band, The Donovans, and more recently as part of the Black Arm Band, and with The Putbacks.
It's been quite a while between releases for Emma, and there's been a lot of life in between, but her new album, Crossover, is one of her best.
Ayebatonye is a DJ and the founder of Irregular Fit, and her latest residency is at The Australian Museum.
So what sort of dance should you do in a museum? And how careful do you need to be?
Whether it's a deserted beach, or a quiet forest, there can be something pretty amazing about being out in nature by yourself.
A new documentary, That's Wild, follows a group of underserved boys from Atlanta, Georgia who head out to the mountains of Colorado and find themselves on a physical and emotional journey .
In a country under dictatorship, with a powerful secret police force, how can you know who to trust?
Gina Wilkinson moved to Iraq shortly before the US invasion, when her husband got a job in the country with UNICEF. She later found out that one of her close friends in Baghdad had been spying on her for the Mukhabarat.
That personal story has inspired her new novel, When the Apricots Bloom
Kutcha Edwards started writing his latest single, We Sing, the day that he found out that Donald Trump had won the US election.
He recorded it as COVID-19 sent Victoria into lockdown.
In the Drawing Room, Kutcha explains why he still ended up writing a song of hope, and he talks about his responsibility to the future and to the past.
Van-Anh Nguyen has been playing the piano since about the time she could walk.
Since then, she's performed with orchestras around the world, released solo albums of classical and contemporary music, and even has a deep-house side-project.
Her latest album, Peaceful Piano Essentials, promises calm and soothing compositions.
It's been almost two decades since Midnight Oil last released a new album, but they've remained one of the most important bands in this country
Their new record, The Makarrata Project, features collaborations with an amazing collection of First Nations artists and includes a reading of the Uluru Statement from the Heart
In the 1950s, Esther Amini was growing up in New York: a Jewish girl with an American childhood of ice skating, school lessons, and concerts at Radio City Music Hall.
But her parents had come from Mashhad in Iran. And in that city, their religion was banned and women were not expected to read, let alone become educated.
In her memoir, Concealed, Esther explores the split between the wider world and the world of her home, and the ways in which her parents' scars became part of her own story.
Van-Anh Nguyen has been playing the piano since about the time she could walk.
Since then, she's performed with orchestras around the world, released solo albums of classical and contemporary music, and even has a deep-house side-project.
Her latest album, Peaceful Piano Essentials, promises calm and soothing compositions.
Deniz Tek was a founding member of Radio Birdman. James Williamson was a key member of The Stooges.
They've each been responsible for some absolutely iconic music over the years.
Now they've joined forces for a new album: Two To One.
Hans Neumann was a wealthy industrialist, a member of Venezuela's elite. He never talked about his past, but, sometimes, he woke screaming from nightmares.
When Hans died, he left behind a box of letters and documents, including family letters from concentration camps and his own false identity papers.
And that set his daughter, Ariana, on a journey to find the full story of her family.
Thirteen years ago, Australia's musicians payed tribute to one of the country's best, Kev Carmody, playing their versions of his songs for the album, Cannot Buy My Soul.
Now a new generation has joined in, with covers by the likes of Courtney Barnett and Electric Fields.
In the Drawing Room, Carmody talks about hearing his stories reflected back and the politics that inspires his words
Drag is a booming business these days, but in America in the 1950s, it was illegal to dress as a woman and the mob owned the few clubs that allowed drag queens to perform
P.S. Burn This Letter Please introduces audiences to the men and women, now in their 80s and 90s, who brought that scene to life, and gets them to share their amazing history.
Ninety-six percent of the people in the world speak only four percent of the languages.
What happens when a language becomes extinct? Does it become easier for everyone to communicate? Or do we lose unique knowledge and culture?
And, once a language is gone, is it gone forever? Can languages be revived?
Sylvie Simmons has been writing about music since the 1970s. She's covered all of the legendary names and written biographies of everyone from Johnny Cash to Mötley Crüe.
Then, in 2014, Sylvie took the risky move of releasing an album of her own.
The risk paid off and the album was a success. Now she's back with the follow-up, Blue on Blue.
On the streets of Kabul, a young boy peddles food and amulets.
His father has been martyred and his family relies on the money he earns, but he dreams of becoming a film star
Granaz Moussavi explores why she travelled to Afghanistan to film When Pomegranates Howl on location, and what it was like working with a cast of child non-actors.
Can children's music be entertaining for adults as well?
That's one of the challenges that sisters Byll and Beth Stephen set themselves when they started Teeny Tiny Stevies as a side-project.
It's been a very successful experiment and the band is three albums in, with songs about everything from emotional intelligence to anaphylaxis.
David McAllister was a principal dancer with the Australian Ballet, and has performed to royalty in Britain and party leaders in Soviet Russia. He went on to become the company's longest serving artistic director.
But before all of that, David was a small boy in 1970s Perth, who loved performing every chance he got.
In his final year as artistic director, David has published his memoir, Soar, which looks back over a life in dance.
As a senior partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler, Mark Leibler has represented some of Australia's richest business people.
He's talked to pretty much every political leader in recent memory and has even been friends with some of them.
Leibler has argued with treasurers over tax policy, done significant pro bono work for Indigenous groups and been a powerful advocate for the Jewish community.
But who is he? That's the subject of a new biography by Michael Gawenda, called The Powerbroker.
A drinks night with two mariachi music loving besties is where the idea for Australia's only all-female mariachi band was borne.
The Queen of Hearts looked to New York for their inspiration where the world's only other all-female mariachi band is based.
They have spent the year composing their own music, making the most of the Covid lockdown.
When Richard Falk steps out of a car, he walks into a community that despises him. He is a policeman sent to a country town to solve a murder.
It's the starting point for the best-selling novel The Dry that's now been turned into a movie starring Eric Bana.
Throw away those dating apps and find out how to really experience love with ancient Persian poetry.
Mahdi Mohammadi is an Afghan man who says poetry can guide us through life, give us better imaginations and make us happier.
Mariana van Zeller trekked in the dark through thick jungles infested with poisonous snakes to reach a cocaine lab in Peru. It was part of her documentary to find out why people become involved in underworld activities.
She says while many of us think these people are bad, she wanted to humanise them.
Thomas Banks' doesn't give up. He's had doors slammed in his face, people lie about their telephone numbers, and he's been bullied. And yet, he is still optimistic about finding love.
When the band The Go Betweens folded in the late 1980s, band member Amanda Brown reinvented herself as a film score composer. She recently won three AACTA awards for her work.
A car crash on a country highway brings a washed up musician (Tim Minchin) and a runaway teenager (Milly Alcock) together. The result is a comedy drama that's won two AACTA awards.
Living in small rural communities can be stifling for young people. A film project is hoping to change that for Robinvale's young.
Celery, rockmelon and microphones star in a new Rom-Com about sex and the world collapsing
Documentary maker Joel Carnegie spun the globe to search for an adventure. His finger landed on Kiribati.
It's been almost a decade between releases for Something For Kate, although the band has remained a favourite around the country and a consistent live presence.
But now the wait is over, with a new album called The Modern Medieval.
In the Drawing Room, Paul Dempsey talks about future science, medieval history and growing up in public.
What does it mean when a person disappears? And what happens to those left behind?
The new novel by Philip Salom explores the ideas of disappearance and loss as a writer heads to explore the phenomenon of 'found people'.
In the Drawing Room, Philip looks back at his own childhood, warns about the danger of self-importance, and reflects on learning to write many different voices
When Katerina Bryant was 24, she began experiencing an illness with no obvious cause.
To describe it, Bryant points to a quote by Hemingway, of his time on the battlefield, in which he felt 'my soul or something coming right out of my body, like you'd pull a silk handkerchief out of a pocket by one corner'.
And so she met with medical experts, took a number of tests and searched through history, looking for an explanation.
These days, Chunky Move is one of the most important dance companies in Australia: a permanent fixture at festivals and major art centres around the world.
But 25 years ago, the company was just taking its first small steps into the world.
So as Chunky Move turns 25, what's been accomplished? And what's still to come?
From New York to Beijing, Lisa Tomasetti has captured the Australian Ballet as they've toured the world.
In each new city, Lisa takes the dancers away from the stages and into the streets, to juxtapose the classic world of ballet against the bustle of everyday life.
In the Drawing Room, Lisa shares some of her adventures from the years, like running away from Chinese police in Tiananmen Square.
Kutcha Edwards started writing his latest single, We Sing, the day that he found out that Donald Trump had won the US election.
He recorded it as COVID-19 sent Victoria into lockdown.
In the Drawing Room, Kutcha explains why he still ended up writing a song of hope, and he talks about his responsibility to the future and to the past.
In the new Audible series, Winding Road, William Hamilton was one of the world's best loved musicians and then, one day, he just disappeared from his home in Maleny.
25 years later, a podcast maker sets out to figure out what happened.
In the Drawing Room, Yael Stone and Elana Stone talk about getting a chance to collaborate on a character together, and about bringing Norah Hamilton and her music to life.
In hotel rooms and cafes, in the brief moments between interviews, Sandy Edwards photographed some of the biggest names in the world during her time with The Age.
Throughout her work as a visual artist, Fiona Foley has engaged with the history of Queensland's Indigenous people.
Her new book, Biting the Clouds, continues that exploration of history.
In the Drawing Room, Dr Foley talks about opium, the real meaning of 'protection' acts and the damaging secrecy of the past.
What does it take, to keep the arts alive and thriving? And what role should philanthropy play?
Alexandra Burt and Rachel Healy were both recognised at this year's Creative Partnerships Awards.
In the Drawing Room they discuss philanthropy, flygskam, and the key conversations facing the arts.
Mark Seymour is one of this country's leading songwriters, first with Hunters and Collectors and then solo and with his band The Undertow.
His latest album is called Slow Dawn and was inspired, in part, by his travels around the world and a look back at history.
What does the person you walked past on the street today think about when they're awake late at night?
Maybe they've been having strange dreams: 2020 has certainly been the year for it.
Maybe they work the late shift and are always up and about when the rest of the world is asleep.
A new project, The Nightline, is asking everyone to call in and share their late-night thoughts.
Garry Disher's novels are an essential and influential part of Australian crime fiction, and have seen him acknowledged with the Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award.
His latest, Consolation, is the third book to follow Paul Hirschhausen, a constable working in a small town, somewhere between Adelaide and the Flinders Ranges.
In the Drawing Room, Disher discusses community, mysteries, and his own experience growing up in regional Australia.
How do we live a life worth living? And what happens when it ends?
They're big questions: the kind often tackled by religion, philosophy and literature.
In his latest book, The Time Of Our Lives, Robert Dessaix explores his own experience of life, aging, and his unending curiosity about the world.
What does it mean to have a mind?
And how does our physical body inform our subjective idea of the world?
In the Drawing Room, Peter Godfrey-Smith explores his latest book, Metazoa, and explains what the evolution of life can tell us about consciousness and the mind.
The wedding of Diana and Prince Charles captured the world's imagination.
But behind that fairy tale was a very different and much lonelier reality.
Josh O'Connor and Emma Corrin share their experiences playing Charles and Diana in The Crown.
Asking your crush out to the formal can be a pretty nerve-wracking event.
And it doesn't get easier when your mother isn't dealing well with you coming out.
And it really doesn't get easier when your dead aunt shows up with advice, claiming to be your fairy godmother.
Monica Zanetti & Sophie Hawkshaw talk about Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt), a new Australian romantic comedy
In a future world, criminals are thrown into a makeshift prison deep underground and the only way to live is to search a giant landfill for items of value.
That's the setup for the new graphic novel, Under-Earth, by the Australian cartoonist Chris Gooch.
In between the fast-paced action, Chris explores what it means to live an ethical life in an unethical world.
He's travelled Middle Earth in the company of hobbits and fought alongside Rambo, but for his latest project, Graham McTavish is heading home.
Graham set out with his Outlanders co-star Sam Heughan to explore the history of Scotland for a new book called Clanlands.
In the Drawing Room, Graham talks about whiskey, cultural genocide, and holding a grudge.
From chasing pumas on foot across a mountain to being surprised by polar bears on a pit stop, life behind the camera on a wildlife documentary can be an exciting ride.
What does it take to get the amazing footage that goes into a David Attenborough show? And what is it like getting to experience it first-hand?
Chadden Hunter takes us behind the scenes of Seven Worlds, One Planet.
Sonification, situationists and sound schools: Bridget Chappell's music practice encompasses a lot of interesting ideas.
On their latest album, Undertow, Bridget has taken the data from the history of water management in Australia and turned it into music.
Lauren Ho explains why it's fun to write about love, particularly when it doesn't go according to plan.
Her protagonist, Andrea, is young, busy and successful. She's one of the forty most influential lawyers under forty according to Singapore Business Review: a detail which she makes sure to include on her dating profile.
Because Andrea is also single, and while she might not mind too much, her mother and her aunties care a lot.
Love it or hate it, reality television has been one of the defining forces of pop culture over the last two decades.
Kate Durbin is a prize-winning poet who is creating works inspired by those shows and by social media. In her works, Durbin explores how those worlds reflect and change our everyday lives.
She's also one of Arts Queensland's poets-in-residence for 2020.
What does silence mean in a world full of noise?
Many of us move through the world at a frantic pace, running from deadline to deadline.
Around us, modern electronics keep us connected, but create their own digital noise.
A new documentary, Echoes of the Invisible, wrestles with what in means to slow down and engage quietly with the world around us.
It has been six years since Kate Miller-Heidke last released a new studio album.
That's not to say that things have been quiet. There has been opera, musicals, Eurovision, and of course a lot of life to live along the way.
But now she's back with a new record: Child In Reverse.
Jo Lawry has performed backup vocals for Sting, Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel, but she is, first and foremost, an acclaimed musician in her own right.
In the Drawing Room, Jo talks to Patricia Karvelas about meeting her heroes, learning to trust her own abilities, and returning home to Adelaide after two decades in New York.
In a time of deep fakes and propaganda, how do audiences learn to critically engage with the video footage they see?
Mid-way through 2019, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, or ACMI, closed for renovations.
ACMI have begun to announce what audiences can expect when they reopen, including new digital-only exhibition spaces that will be available soon throughout the country.
It's been almost two decades since Midnight Oil last released a new album, but they've remained one of the most important bands in this country
Their new record, The Makarrata Project, features collaborations with an amazing collection of First Nations artists and includes a reading of the Uluru Statement from the Heart
For Margie Lou Dyer, jazz has been a family affair.
Her father, Warwick Dyer was a much-loved jazzman; Margie played for decades with her husband, Allan Browne; and her daughter Hayley has also joined the band.
In the Drawing Room, Margie talks about her own love for music and the joy and sadness that a song can inspire.
Phil Stack has played with legends of the jazz world and been a staple of Australian radio as part of Thirsty Merc.
In the Drawing Room, he talks about the stresses and joys of going solo, as he releases his new album: Colorful, Noisy.
This year, Kim Carpenter's collaboration with the Australian Ballet on The Happy Prince was due to tour the country.
It was his first major work to hit the stage after he had closed the curtains on the Theatre of Image, the company he'd led for thirty years.
Kim continued to be inspired by the story though, and is now displaying a related series of artwork as part of his new exhibition.
Since the first gold rush in 1851, mining has been an important part of Australia's history and even the country's identity.
Remote towns sprung into existence, major cities were built with the wealth, and communities and cultures have been built and shattered by the promise of precious metal.
Our Shadows, the latest novel by the award-winning author Gail Jones, takes readers from Kalgoorlie to Sydney and creates a very personal tale set against that grand history.
Roy Billing has played a police officer and a drug lord, a mayor and a magician's servant.
In his new film, Never Too Late, Roy is part of an elite military team, who are now all residents in the same retirement home.
And it's time for one final mission: to rekindle old flames and make up for the mistakes of the past.