In this week's episode we speak with Shanghai-born, Melbourne-based artist Badiucao, who explains what it's like to remain under suspicion and surveillance for his political artwork. Badiucao, a Walkley-award winning artist with The Age, speaks with opinion editor Patrick O'Neil about his early life in China, the kind of things that still happen to him here in Australia - and that strange time someone pretended to be him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's episode, actor, author and advocate Hannah Diviney speaks about what it was like to call out Lizzo and Beyonce for ableist language, how she doesn't always love her disability, and the freedom to be found in not always needing to be awesome. Speaking with The Sydney Morning Herald culture writer Thomas Mitchell, Diviney also talks about her the new Australian film, Audrey. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode we speak with author Gina Chick, winner of the inaugural Alone Australia and author of the memoir We Are The Stars. Chick speaks with journalist David Leser about feeding birds from her own mouth as a kid, how she learned to embrace her weirdness as a young adult, and the wonder of discovering the identity of her famous literary grandmother. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we speak to Academy Award winner Kate Winslet about her new film "Lee" - a biopic about the life of pioneering World War II correspondent Lee Miller, and her sensitive and stunning front-line photography. Hosted by Konrad Marshall, the discussion covers everything from the ups and downs for women in film, to life behind the lens. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode we speak with former Australian Financial Review Rear Window columnist Joe Aston about the national airline and how its reputation has fallen among so many flyers. Aston, who penned the upcoming book, The Chairman's Lounge: The Inside Story of How Qantas Sold Us Out, speaks with senior Good Weekend writer Jane Cadzow about how he went from working for Qantas and writing a travel column, to being highly critical of the airline and its former CEO Alan Joyce, to why he...

In this week's episode we speak with Jon Ronson, who contends the attributes of psychopaths really do help them get ahead. Ronson, who wrote the 2011 bestseller The Psychopath Test, also explores how social media rewards those with an empathy bypass, and looks at the rise of public shaming. Speaking with Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall, he also makes a case for non-fiction writers like himself avoiding the temptation of fudging the truth - and the importance of humour in...

Nobody's desk at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald has been as overflowing with books as that of Jason Steger, who recently left his job as books editor at the mastheads. On today's episode he talks with culture writer Kerrie O'Brien about his favourite interviews and books, whether he cops much abuse from writers after a bad review - and that time he drank too much with Richard Flanagan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s episode, American author, speaker and blogger Mark Manson discusses how the mantra of relentless positivity, which drives so much of the self-help industry, is full of pitfalls. He explains how negative emotions have a purpose - to drive us to do something - and why the willingness to look like an idiot occasionally guards against self-entitlement. He gives us tips on how to be realistic in our lives, how to maintain hope - and what not to do with cyber stalkers.  Hosting this...

In this episode we speak with health reporter Norman Swan, who has written a new book on the dos and don'ts of raising children up to the age of 10. Among other topics, Swan talks about how to set good eating habits, what to do about screen overload - and whether it's ever ok to let kids sip alcohol (answer: no). Hosting this conversation with the ABC broadcaster and author of So You Want to Know What’s Good for Your Kids? is the editor of Good Weekend, Katrina Strickland. See...

The youngest ever editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, now owner of Private Media, publisher of Crikey, Eric Beecher has spent decades in and observing the media. In today's episode he discusses his conclusions on when it works best, and when it fails democracy, with his longtime friend, journalist David Leser. Beecher also discusses what it was like to work for Rupert Murdoch during his two year stint as editor-in-chief of The Herald and Weekly Times Group, and whether he was scared when,...

In today's episode, singer/songwriter Tim Minchin discusses the poison that is social media, how he emerged from his bruising time in LA and why he urges students to look after their bodies. In conversation with culture reporter Thomas Mitchell, he reflects also on his infamous George Pell song, and on the impending publication of his first non-fiction book, You Don't Have to Have a Dream (Advice for the Incrementally Ambitious). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode we speak with Markus Zusak, the bestselling novelist behind The Book Thief and Bridge of Clay, who has penned his first non-fiction book, Three Wild Dogs and the Truth, about Reuben, Archer and Frosty, the pound dogs he and wife Mika brought into their family. Zusak talks about the mad mayhem of sharing your life with a mongrel, and the importance of stripping away the veneer through which we so often view life, to expose its more messy reality. Hosting this conversation, in...

In this episode we speak with Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, who broke through two decades ago with her hit debut album The Sound of White, which dealt with teen and 20-something troubles. Now 41, Higgins has just produced a new album, The Second Act, which traverses the aftermath of the breakdown of her marriage. Higgins talks candidly with Good Weekend senior writer Melissa Fyfe about taking the audience with her on her life journey, the travails of songwriting and dating...

In this episode we speak with Jason Arrow, otherwise known as Australia's Alexander Hamilton. The South African-born, Perth-raised performer won the role for the musical's 2021 Sydney premiere, and has since played the titular character in Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland, Manila, Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Hosting this conversation about everything from how he remembers all those words, to how he winds down post-show, to why he initially preferred the character of Aaron Burr in the story of...

In this episode, we speak with Anna Marsden, managing director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Back in 2018, Marsden’s life changed overnight when she received news from then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull that the federal government was granting the foundation a record-breaking $443 million to help fortify the reef against the ravages of climate change. It was a controversial decision – the foundation was then a relatively small Brisbane-based conservation organisation and Turnbull’s...

In this episode, we speak with best-selling author and social commentator, Roxane Gay. A decade after the publication of her much-talked-about book, Bad Feminist, Gay offers her unapologetic views on everything from body image, to writer's block, to the likelihood of Kamala Harris becoming America's first female president, to her current writing projects, which include - surprisingly - a romance novel with actor Channing Tatum.  Hosting this conversation is senior writer and columnist for...

In this episode, we speak with author Theodore Ell. From 2018 to 2021, Ell accompanied his wife on her diplomatic posting to Lebanon, and unexpectedly found himself a witness to a country on the brink. His new book, Lebanon Days, takes in an economic meltdown, mass protests and finally, tragically, the Beirut port explosion of 2020. Hosting this episode is Good Weekend deputy editor, Greg Callaghan.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode we speak with the federal member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, who was swept into Canberra on a "teal wave" at the 2022 election. Spender talks candidly with The Sydney Morning Herald associate editor Deborah Snow about the aftermath of the April stabbings at Bondi Junction, the impact of war in Gaza on her constituents, and her determination to push tax reform onto the national agenda. Spender speaks also about the work ethic she inherited from her mother, the late fashion...

In this episode we speak with Matthew Evans, the Australian chef and restaurant critic turned Tassie farmer and food writer. Evans, who has written a new book called Milk, talks about the science behind dairy products, the truth and lies around them - and answers the curly question of whether cheese dreams are real. Hosting the conversation, in which Evans also discusses the big issues facing food producers, is the national editor of Good Food, Ardyn Bernoth. See omnystudio.com/listener for...

In this episode we speak with economics commentator Cameron Murray, author of the book, The Great Housing Hijack, which looks at the factors behind Australia's housing crisis. Murray was one of the few who predicted the boom in home prices after the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosting a conversation that covers Murray's analysis of the underlying causes of the problem, international templates for improvements and the role of social housing in the solution is Good Weekend deputy editor, Greg...

In this episode we speak with Nedd Brockmann. The 25 year old sparky captured the attention of the country in 2022 when he ran from Perth to Sydney, raising $2.5 million for homelessness in the process. With a second book and a Kayo documentary in the works, he’s now come up with a new way to challenge himself - and hopefully break a world record. Hosting the conversation with Brockmann is Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we speak with former Good Weekend staff writer Stephanie Wood. Stephanie's 2017 story about her real-life relationship with a man who deceived her with a web of lies received an incredible response from readers, such that she left the magazine to write a book about the experience, Fake, which was published in 2019. That story has now been turned into an eight-part TV series starring Asher Keddie and David Wenham, premiering on Paramount Plus on July 4. On today's podcast,...

In this episode we speak to Tamsyn Manou (née Lewis). The former track star long ago traded her running shoes for the microphone, and is headed to France next month as a Nine Wide World of Sports expert athletics commentator. In this chat, she takes us into everything from the headspace occupied by aspiring Olympians right now, to the things she's most looking forward to seeing in Paris and the rise of middle-distance running in Australia. Hosting this conversation is chief reporter for The...

In this episode we speak to Max Chandler-Mather, the 32 year old Greens MP who's shaking up Canberra with his uncompromising take on the housing crisis. Chandler-Mather talks with Good Weekend senior writer Jane Cadzow about his own experience as a renter and how it feeds into his policies and politics, his success with door-knocking at the 2022 federal election, and what he thinks of the hecklers in federal parliament. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.