Conversations

Growing up, para powerlifter, Hani Watson’s passion for lifting had been ignited by her dad and the pack of Arnold Schwarzenegger-types in their string singlets who would accompany him to lift weights. The gym has seen Hani through agonising moments in life, and all the way to the Paralympic Games. Warning: discussion of sexual assault.
Throughout her childhood she was having operation after painful operation, to try to straighten her bowed legs.
After each surgery, the metal pins and screws would wreak havoc in Hani’s legs, and they resumed growing in the same way they always had.
In high school, ruptures at home meant Hani had to move out and support herself, and she lost touch with her mum. 
During this distressing time, a kindly school principal gave Hani the keys to the school gym, and that place became an anchor once more.
After another unsuccessful surgery in her 30s, Hani was enjoying the freedom of a wheelchair, compared to the agonising and exhausting effort of walking.
She turned to powerlifting to recover, which led her to worldwide competitions, eventually earning a bronze medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. 
Hani also competed at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Further information
If you need support, you can chat online with someone at Lifeline, or call on 13 11 14.
Hani is competing for Australia in Glasgow at this year’s Commonwealth Games.
This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.
This episode covers weightlifting, powerlifting, para-powerlifting, paralympian, disability, athlete, bowed legs, osteotomies, plates and screws in your leg, divorce, marriage, trauma, domestic violence, family violence, mental health, mental illness, psychosis, weight training, drugs, drug mule, marijuana, high school, bullying, popular kids, assault, sexual assault, competition, bunnings, wheelchair, VAD, QVAD, voluntary assisted dying and chores. 
To binge even more great episodes of the 'Conversations podcast' with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

At just 15 years old, Jarvis Cocker wrote a manifesto that laid out his vision for a band he hoped would take over the music industry.
Jarvis discovered the document while sorting through the boxes of stuff from his early life that he’d stashed away in his attic.
It was in an an old school exercise book from when he was a fifteen-year-old schoolboy in Sheffield.
He'd filled it with detailed plans to form a band called Pulp that would storm the music industry.
But it took fourteen years for his 'Pulp Masterplan' to come to fruition, when his song ‘Common People’ went to the top of the UK charts.
This interview was first broadcast in 2023 
Further information
This interview was recorded at the 2023 Melbourne Writers Festival 
Good Pop Bad Pop is published by Random House

Hannah had a beautiful love story with her husband Matt. After he died in a surfing accident, grief broke her open and changed her life in unexpected ways 
As a young couple, writer Hannah Richell and her husband Matt left London for a new life in Australia. 
They loved the ocean, the sun, and the people.
Then one morning before work, Matt went for a surf at Bronte Beach, and, in a tragic accident, drowned.
Hannah was lost to grief....and overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for their two little children all alone.
But, painstaking, day by day, month by month, year by year she found her way back to life.
Hannah discovered that her heart could expand to include all of it - the joy and the heartbreak, the sweetness and the pain, the love and the loss.
Further information:  
An Ocean And A Day is published by HarperCollins

During her two terms as PM, Jacinda gained global attention for her response to the terror attack in Christchurch and for giving birth at the same time as running the country.
Jacinda grew up as a good Mormon girl who planned on making a difference behind the scenes.
But when she unexpectedly became head of the Labor Party, only weeks away from a federal election, Jacinda discovered she had a talent for leadership.
Jacinda's memoir about her time as PM and her life before and after is called A Different Kind of Power.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Jen Leake and Nicola Harrison is the Executive Producer.
Further Information
A Different Kind of Power is published by Penguin.
For more information, Penguin authors Jacinda Ardern

The much-loved actor Sam Neill had an unusual path into acting. Raised in New Zealand as a shy boy with a stutter named Nigel, he was 30 when he got his big break (R) Sam, who has died at the age of 78, was an acclaimed actor, a winemaker, an author, a cancer survivor and a Dad to four children. 
In recent years he had cared for cows, pigs, ducks and horses on his farm in New Zealand while making Pinot Noir.
In his remarkable career as an actor he starred in more than 100 films including Jurassic Park, My Brilliant Career, and The Piano.
A few years ago, stuck in Sydney while undergoing treatment for cancer, Sam found himself with a lot of time on his hands to reflect on his eclectic life.
Sarah spoke to him in 2023 after the release of his quirky, funny and life-affirming memoir.
Further information:
Did I Ever Tell You This is published by Text