Currently touring Australia, singer songwriter Billy Bragg is celebrating 40 years since the release of his first album. Hosting this chat was senior culture writer Kerrie O’Brien, who leads a discussion about everything from life in the United Kingdom after Brexit – “We soiled ourselves publicly,” Bragg says – to the fact the world will be watching as we vote on introducing an Indigenous Voice to parliament. As an Englishman, Bragg argues he has “skin in the game”, and sees this as an opportunity to “right a terrible, historic wrong”. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s been a big start to the year for Michael Cassel. The theatrical producer moved the mega-hit Hamilton to Brisbane (and brought creator Lin Manuel Miranda to Australia to meet the team and promote the production). He opened the juggernaut Mary Poppins in Melbourne to rave reviews. Then finally, he launched & Juliet – a Broadway darling based on the songs of international hitmaker Max Martin, who was flown in from Sweden for opening night. In this episode, Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland chats to Cassel about everything from what he learnt from Harry M Miller and Alan Jones, to the theatre shortage in Sydney, to his hopes for a new show based on the songs of John Farnham. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kon Karapanagiotidis had a nickname growing up. The boy with the unpronounceable surname was dubbed “Mr Alphabet”. As the child of Greek immigrants, the now CEO and founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre thus grew up with an acute appreciation of the otherness experienced by refugees, and the need to wrap your arms around such people. “You understand the importance of what we call ‘philoxenia’ in Greek culture, which is to welcome and accept the stranger,” he says. “Everything I do comes from an understanding of where I come from, what I’ve been through, and how lucky I am to be here," he tells Konrad Marshall, senior writer for Good Weekend Magazine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode we speak with British TV presenter and doctor Michael Mosley, whose brush with type two diabetes introduced him to intermittent fasting and led to a documentary: Eat, Fast and Live Longer, which helped popularise the 5:2 dieting regimen around the world.Mosley is in Australia right now researching sleep and also for a national speaking tour this month. Hosting this chat with him about everything from hunger as the driver of intelligence, to unlocking the power of push ups and squats in the morning - is Kerrie O’Brien, a senior culture writer with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fans of Australian Survivor would have been unsurprised to see writer Benjamin Law voted off the show earlier this week. Law had been on the outs with other players since the beginning, never able to form true alliances despite his best efforts – a necessity when looking to advance in the game – and repeatedly labelled by a number of players as “shifty”. But his exit has kickstarted a larger discussion about the way people of colour can be “disadvantaged” on the show, and the issue of diversity on Australian TV more generally. “I think there’s a real opportunity for Survivor, and all Australian shows, to be bringing a better mix [to the cast]," said Law while speaking to culture writer for The Age, Meg Watson this week's episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do affairs run in families? Are there seven stages to go through after discovering your spouse has cheated on you? What is the best way to move on? Journalist Kate Legge delves into these questions and more - with Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland - after discovering not only that her husband had cheated on her, but that their son had cheated on his partner too, and that her husband's father and grandmother had both also had affairs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Isaac Humphries is the only pro male basketball player in the world who is currently playing and publicly gay, having made a tearful, viral announcement to his Melbourne United teammates late last year. The 25-year-old stands 211 centimetres tall and is known for his defensive “beast mode” qualities on court, but in this conversation with Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall, Humphries shows his thoughtful side, stepping listeners through the private pain of the coming out process, including his decision to become one of just a handful of elite sportsmen playing today to share that side of themselves in public. On the eve of Sydney WorldPride 2023, Humphries also details the aftermath of that decision, both good and bad. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When your resume of theatrical smash hits includes Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats and Oliver, it might seem safe to assume you have the Midas touch for staging musicals. But the industry’s global doyen, Cameron Mackintosh, takes nothing for granted. Mackintosh is in Melbourne right now for the opening of one of his other shows –Mary Poppins. Recording from within Her Majesty’s Theatre, he chats with Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall, about singing and stagecraft – and sales within a creative yet cutthroat field. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For all the talk about our fractured attention spans and ability to still read books, when a new phenomenon hits the shelves, we crack open the covers. “If Harry Potter is delivered, what do we see? We see kids who are apparently distractible and distracted with their noses in their books - and they can’t be prised away from reading,” says Adelaide Writers’ Week director Louise Adler. In this episode, Adler talks all things books and publishing with Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland. A former CEO of Melbourne University Publishing and one-time publisher-at-large at Hachette, Adler was speaking ahead of her first Adelaide Writers’ Week, which runs from March 4 to 9 in the South Australian capital. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We'll be back in late January 2023 with plenty of exciting interviews booked in the calendar. But for now enjoy one of our most popular episodes from the past year. And remember to subscribe and share. Australia is rushing towards a filmmaking crisis due to the paucity of locally-produced shows on which up-and-coming writers, directors and other key creatives can develop their skills. So says acclaimed producer Tony Ayres, whose hit shows include Glitch, Stateless, The Slap, Barracuda, Seven Types of Ambiguity and Clickbait. In this episode, Ayres discusses the skills shortage he expects to hit in about five years time, along with the high and low points of his own career and life, with senior culture writer Karl Quinn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On her retirement, we revisit this conversation we had with Daisy Pearce late last year: A premiership medal has so far eluded Melbourne’s captain Daisy Pearce, widely regarded face of the AFLW, but the Demons star says her football journey has been “so much more than that”, as she’s found fulfilment outside the flag dream. Last season, when Melbourne made the grand final for the first time in competition history, a narrative was quickly created around “Do it for Daisy”. Pearce speaks to sports reporter for The Age, Marnie Vinall, about the upcoming preliminary final against North Melbourne at Ikon Park on Saturday, where the Demons are the strong favourites to progress into another grand final. “The beauty of AFLW footy is the amount of time you spend together, and the time and level that you can connect on," says Pearce. "You know, people that just challenge and inspire every day, in all walks of life, not just to get better at footy, but just to be better in general, has been awesome." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We'll be back in late January 2023 with plenty of exciting interviews booked in the calendar. But for now enjoy one of our most popular episodes from the past year. And remember to subscribe and share. Paralympic gold medalist, winner of tennis’s uber-rare Golden Slam and Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott feared he'd miss tennis when he stopped playing earlier this year. He didn't - not one jot. In this relaunch episode of Good Weekend Talks, Alcott discusses with Konrad Marshall his post-tennis career plans, what he really wants to achieve as Australian of the Year, and why people with disabilities, aka "natural born problem solvers", make for great employees. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We'll be back in late January 2023 with plenty of exciting interviews booked in the calendar. But for now enjoy one of our most popular episodes from the past year. And remember to subscribe and share. In this special longer-length episode, hosted by Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland, Kylie Moore-Gilbert talks about everything from the psychotic Revolutionary Guard who fell in love with her, to the federal government’s campaign to get her out of prison via quiet diplomatic means (she argues it only worked after the media started reporting her case), to the difficulty of rebuilding her life at home in Australia. Good Weekend senior writer Jane Cadzow, who was given the first interview with Moore-Gilbert for our recent cover story, Prisoner 97029, says the complete isolation appeared to be one of the hardest things for Moore-Gilbert to have had to endure. You can read Jane's story, Terror, loneliness, a lovesick guard: Kylie Moore-Gilbert’s 804 days in a Tehran jail, here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We'll be back in late January 2023 with plenty of exciting interviews booked in the calendar. But for now enjoy one of our most popular episodes from the past year. And remember to subscribe and share. Julie Inman Grant leads the world’s first regulatory agency designed to keep people safe online, after an influential career working with US Congress, as well as in senior positions at Silicon Valley giants Microsoft and Twitter. But she’s also just a mum, albeit one who understands better than most the pressures parents face in keeping their kids out of harm’s way online. Inman Grant speaks with senior writer Konrad Marshall about the kind of disturbing content that comes through her office; what parents should and should not do to help their kids navigate the online world; and how she deals with all this in her own family dynamics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We'll be back in late January 2023 with plenty of exciting interviews booked in the calendar. But for now enjoy one of our most popular episodes from the past year. And remember to subscribe and share. Ben Crowe has been mindset coach to the stars (including everyone from Ash Barty and Dylan Alcott, to Dustin Martin and Stephanie Gilmore) in a marketing and mentoring career spanning 25 years. Good Weekend senior writer Melissa Fyfe recently profiled Crowe, examining his work counselling everyone from CEOs to students to soldiers, and now hosts an in-depth chat with the man himself. In this episode, Crowe answers all the big questions: does a mindset coach need his own mindset coach? What is a ‘courage mantra’ - and how do you come up with one? What was Shane Warne really like? And what is the meaning of life? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s been said that in longform journalism, there are no shortcuts. To start, there’s the difficulty in gaining access to high profile subjects, then managing the public relations operatives keen to control any interaction. Next comes the balancing act between reporting and writing - between calling as many as 60 sources for a single story, then shaping that trove of raw material into 5000 words that command attention. It’s a specialist craft, and in the final episode of Good Weekend Talks for 2022, Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland hosts a discussion with senior writers Jane Cadzow and Amanda Hooton. As veterans of the magazine, Cadzow and Hooton have mastered the process, developing that all important nose for the story, eye for detail and ear for a quote. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wil Anderson has pinballed around the ABC since the early 2000's, hosting multiple TV shows, including The Gruen Transfer and, most recently, Question Everything. He is one of Australia’s most accomplished TV talents, a stand-up comedian with 25 years under his belt and a Gold Logie nominee. In this episode, he speaks with culture reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald, Thomas Mitchell, about everything from whether the ABC supports young performers, to what it's like living with osteoarthritis (“some days I can walk fine, some days I am Keyser Söze”), to his new book, I Am Not Fine, Thanks. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amy Taylor’s music has taken her all over the world – from the UK to the US, Coachella to Glastonbury – but she definitely wasn’t expecting it to deliver an audience with the Prime Minister. Yet that’s precisely what happened on Wednesday, when the often foul-mouthed and always feminist frontwoman for ascendant Melbourne pub-punk band Amyl and the Sniffers was flown to Canberra for a meeting with Anthony Albanese. In this episode, Taylor chats to Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall, author of the magazine’s profile of Taylor this weekend. Their conversation explored everything from the structural sexism that’s rife within the industry to the uncomfortable conversations Taylor is more than comfortable having. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Professor Andrew Pask is head of the TIGRR Lab (short for Thylacine Integrated Genomic Restoration Research) at the University of Melbourne, leading the charge to extract DNA from a Tasmanian tiger pelt sample, and genomes from thylacine relatives, to build a new genome for the de-extinction of the Tasmanian tiger - a possibility that’s closer to reality than science fiction. Hosting the podcast conversation this week – about everything from conservation to venture capitalism – is national science reporter for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Liam Mannix. Mannix was one of a host of experts from our newsrooms who helped compile our list of “52 New Makers of 2022” – an annual issue of the magazine that honours those who rose to prominence in the year in question, from a range of fields – including everything from sport to business to politics to fashion and science. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A premiership medal has so far eluded Melbourne’s captain Daisy Pearce, widely regarded face of the AFLW, but the Demons star says her football journey has been “so much more than that”, as she’s found fulfilment outside the flag dream. Last season, when Melbourne made the grand final for the first time in competition history, a narrative was quickly created around “Do it for Daisy”. Pearce speaks to sports reporter for The Age, Marnie Vinall, about the upcoming preliminary final against North Melbourne at Ikon Park on Saturday, where the Demons are the strong favourites to progress into another grand final. “The beauty of AFLW footy is the amount of time you spend together, and the time and level that you can connect on," says Pearce. "You know, people that just challenge and inspire every day, in all walks of life, not just to get better at footy, but just to be better in general, has been awesome." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.