Subtexts: Body/Language
Clementine Ford, Alice Pung, Kelli Jean Drinkwater and Karina Quinn look at what the body can realistically tell us about identity, what we can’t assume – and the space in between. We’ll open a space for all different kinds of bodies – fat bodies, fit bodies, old bodies, diasporic bodies, even absent bodies – to communicate their true identities.
1hr 1m Mar 11, 2015
1hr 1m
Simran Sethi
In partnership with the Sustainable Living Festival, Simran Sethi shares her wisdom on food, sustainability and climate change with the Wheeler Centre.
57m Mar 11, 2015
57m
GALAs 2015: For Five. A Gala for five year olds with Julia Donaldson.
What’s a fifth birthday celebration without something just perfect for five year olds? We invited children’s author and entertainer Julia Donaldson, creator of The Gruffalo, to take young readers on a musical and storytelling adventure – along with her many creations, including the Gruffalo.
1hr 1m Mar 11, 2015
1hr 1m
GALAs 2015: On Five. A Gala Night of Storytelling.
2015 marks the Wheeler Centre’s fifth birthday, and to celebrate, we bring you a very special chapter of our beloved annual tradition: A Gala Night of Storytelling. A dozen of Australia’s best writers and storytellers came together in the Melbourne Town Hall on one big night, to share their take on a central theme: ‘five’. You'll hear stories from Maxine Beneba Clarke, Tim Flannery, Ellen van...
1hr 35m Mar 11, 2015
1hr 35m
GALAs 2015: In Five. A Gala Debate on 2020.
As part of our fifth birthday celebrations, we presented a unique headline debate with two sides, just one team – and nothing less than our future at stake. The central question: where will we be as a society in five years’ time? Should we feel hopeful, or should we feel despair? Speakers include feminist author Eva Cox, Robogals founder and former Young Australian of the Year Marita Cheng, p...
1hr 26m Mar 11, 2015
1hr 26m
Cover Girls Uncovered
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what do the covers of books by female authors say? Headless torsos, giant lips, 50 shades of pink and pastel … why are the covers of books by women usually feminine, even when the content is not?
59m Mar 09, 2015
59m
Preview: On Five. A Gala Night of Storytelling.
In this short special episode, we bring you a very timely excerpt from On Five. A Gala Night of Storytelling – Anita Heiss' story of why she doesn't like 14 February, but does believe in lasting love. We'll bring you all eleven stories soon.
10m Feb 15, 2015
10m
Bret Easton Ellis
It was a wild night when Bret Easton Ellis came to Melbourne at the end of his tour for Imperial Bedrooms. At his most candid, BEE sets the record straight on Delta Goodrem, how Mad Men is better than any contemporary novel, why American Psycho is a great Father’s Day gift, and how he and Judd Nelson scammed Vanity Fair with their twisted take on Los Angeles. Plus he tackles some feisty audien...
1hr 3m Feb 01, 2015
1hr 3m
Lunchbox/Soapbox: Stephanie Alexander: A Dietary Call to Arms
What has happened to the family table? There is no greater pleasure than eating delicious, fresh food yet more than 25% of Australian children suffer from diet-related problems. This is a look into practical solutions to help a new generation learn to appreciate the joys of fresh, simply-prepared food. Pack your lunchbox carefully for this exploration of how instilling an appreciation of food –...
26m Feb 01, 2015
26m
Reading the City: Melbourne on The Page
Jason Steger chaired the discussion where Andrea Goldsmith, Joan London and Ross Mueller explained how they convert our buildings, lanes and streets onto the page.
17m Jan 28, 2015
17m
Key of Sea
Join us for an emotional night of storytelling and song. The Key of Sea produces creative projects – albums and journals – that celebrate Australia’s cultural diversity. The albums pair established artists with musicians escaping war, hardship or persecution. In this intimate evening, we’ll hear from Danny Katz, Oslo Davis, Alice Pung, Zakia Baig, Awaz and Murtaza, as they share their work. Al...
47m Jan 18, 2015
47m
The Last Tuesday Society: Alternate Endings
The Last Tuesday Society is an anarchic, absurd artist collective who come together regularly to present events of short performances and more. In a madcap outing with a distinctly literary flavour, Last Tuesday is teaming with the Wheeler Centre to imagine what might have happened differently in various well-known situations: factual and fictional. Our guests take liberties with the facts as...
1hr 18m Jan 14, 2015
1hr 18m
Foreign Correspondents
In the age of fast news, few resources and global technology, are foreign correspondents becoming redundant – or are they a vital investment in properly bearing witness? Three esteemed former foreign correspondents reveal experiences from the front, sharing on-the-job tales, stories of the long-term effects of the role, and a look at how it’s evolved over the years … from the days before email ...
1hr 1m Jan 11, 2015
1hr 1m
The Novella: Forgotten stories
The novella occupies a special place in literature – we all know it’s longer than a short story and shorter than a novel. Famous novellas include some of literature’s greats: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Wide Sargasso Sea, Animal Farm. But what is it that defines a novella? What are its strengths as a form? And why are we still writing them? In an event to mark Griffith REVIEW’s Novella Project II,...
1hr Jan 04, 2015
1hr
Sami Shah: I, Migrant
Pakistani stand-up comedian Sami Shah has been delivering punchlines from the frontlines of the war on terror for several years. He’s been profiled on Comedy Central, by Australian Story and in the New York Times. Shah left Pakistan for Australia after being targeted by death threats; at home, he fronted his own satirical show and worked as a journalist. In his own unique comic style, he share...
47m Jan 04, 2015
47m
Kate Richards: Madness
Kate Richards’ bleakly beautiful, confronting and important book, Madness: A Memoir, describes her 15 years coping with psychosis and depression, and her long, hard-won journey back to sanity, with the help of a wise and compassionate psychologist. In this video, she speaks with Ranjana Srivastava, an oncologist and fellow author, about her experience –and about being able to write from deep w...
47m Jan 04, 2015
47m
Question time: Transport
As our cities get more crowded, our transport infrastructure ages, and climate change brings new challenges, transport looms large as a knotty policy issue. What is happening at the cutting edge of public transport, and clean car technology? What’s the state of Australia’s public transport systems and road transport network – and why do we always have to choose one over the other? Presented in...
57m Jan 04, 2015
57m
The Fifth Estate: Greg Combet: Unions, Labor and Leadership
Join host Sally Warhaft for this Fifth Estate spotlight interview with Greg Combet, where they discuss the Australian labour movement, the state of our democracy and parliament, the future of the ALP and life after politics for a man many thought a good chance as a future prime minister. Greg Combet is one of the most influential public figures of his generation. A former leader of the ACTU, a...
1hr 4m Dec 15, 2014
1hr 4m
The Fifth Estate: Defence policy in the age of ISIS
Sally Warhaft is joined by James Brown, former Australian Army officer, now Military Fellow at the Lowy Institute, and Greg Barton (director, international, of the Global Terrorism Research Centre and co-editor of the journal Islam and Christian Muslim Relations). These distinguished insiders will lend their experience and insight in a special Fifth Estate on Australia’s defence policy in the a...
1hr 2m Dec 14, 2014
1hr 2m
Karen Joy Fowler: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Karen Joy Fowler is best known for her international bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club, a sublime comic novel of contemporary manners that Alice Sebold loved so much, she wanted to eat it (strange but true). Her Booker-longlisted latest novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, is a daringly original exploration of family and loss, self and coming-of-age. It’s told through the prism of...
1hr Dec 14, 2014
1hr
Well May We Say
A great speech captures the power and passion of its ideas; it’s an attempt to influence thought, or to commemorate a moment in time. On the publication of her updated anthology, Well May We Say, Sally Warhaft responds to some of Australia’s most significant speeches, on the themes of defence, women, immigration and indigenous affairs, in conversation with Stuart Macintyre and host Gideon Haigh...
1hr 27m Dec 13, 2014
1hr 27m
Thomas Keneally
Join national treasure and literary icon Thomas Keneally as he discusses his work, past and present with historian and writer Robyn Annear. 2014 is the fiftieth anniversary of Thomas Keneally’s first novel. He was the first Australian to wina Booker Prize (for Schindler’s Ark, filmed as Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning Schindler’s List). He won the Miles Franklin twice. Spielberg says he chan...
1hr Dec 12, 2014
1hr
Medium Rare
Every lover of books, every writer and every great reader knows the score – there are thousands of amazing, obscure and underrated literary gems in libraries and bookstores just waiting to be discovered. And yet when you try to champion these cult favourites to someone at work, the inevitable response is, ‘Sounds good, but have you read The Da Vinci Code? It’s awesome!’ This year the Wheeler C...
52m Dec 11, 2014
52m
Science Fiction Addiction
Is there such a thing as Australian science fiction – when you’re dealing with other worlds, does the nationality of the writer (and the setting) matter? Are there any questions or issues that Australian science fiction is uniquely positioned to address? And what’s so good about science fiction, anyway? Doug Hendrie will talk to Jane Rawson, Lucy Sussex, Andrew Macrae and Max Barry about why t...
1hr Dec 10, 2014
1hr
The Fifth Estate: The Prime Ministers' Chiefs
The prime minister’s chief of staff has a unique role in Australian political culture. With immeasurable influence – some much more than others – as confidantes, mediators, gatekeepers and advisors, the chief of staff steers the prime minister through the challenges and landmines of leadership, fine tuning and coordinating the things that matter to help win the support of cabinet, caucus and co...
1hr Dec 10, 2014
1hr
Don Watson: The Bush
Don Watson, award-winning author of American Journeys and former speechwriter for Paul Keating, takes us on a journey through our own national landscape and character, presenting the bush in all its complexity and contradiction. Watson grew up on a farm in East Gippsland – he’s part of the bush. But what is it? The untouched wilderness, or the land worked by farmers, loggers and cattlemen? The...
52m Dec 09, 2014
52m
Whale Wars: Sam Vincent
Travel writer, journalist and author of Blood and Guts: Dispatches from the Whale Wars, Sam Vincent takes an objective eyewitness look at the whale wars. What motivates the war against whaling in the Southern Ocean – for both sides? Why does Sea Shepherd spend vast sums of money and risk activists’ lives to pursue a relatively low-impact hunt in isolated and perilous waters? Why does a rich na...
29m Dec 08, 2014
29m
The Hard Sell: Dee Madigan on Political Advertising
In the lead-up to the 2014 Victorian state election, advertising expert Dee Madigan (Gruen Planet) gave us the inside running on how political advertising works, why negative ads strike a chord, the secrets of spin, and more. In conversation with Ben Birchall. Find out how politicians use journalists who use politicians, how gender plays into it, and what happens when it all falls apart. Get t...
45m Dec 08, 2014
45m
Robert Dessaix: What Days Are For
Robert Dessaix is one of Australia’s most cherished literary authors, acclaimed for his autobiographies, travel memoirs and fiction. For many years, he presented Books and Writing on ABC Radio National. In his latest book, What Days Are For, Robert shares his reflections from his hospital bed, recovering from a heart attack that threatens to kill him, as he reads the Philip Larkin poem ‘Days’ a...
59m Dec 07, 2014
59m
Annabel Crabb: The Wife Drought
You know the saying: behind every successful man stands a woman. She’s doing his laundry, cooking his meals, and generally making sure he can concentrate on his public life – while she takes care of his private one. She’s called a wife, and it’s a common joke among women juggling work and family that they would really like one of their own. Even in this age of vastly improved gender equality,...
59m Nov 28, 2014
59m
Molly Meldrum
Generations of us have grown up with Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum beaming into our lounge rooms, signature cowboy hat on head – first on the ground-breaking music show Countdown which ran for 13 years, then on Hey Hey It’s Saturday (where his co-stars included a plucky duck and a puppet on a stick). His music knowledge is encyclopaedic, but his real genius has always been his affable interviewing style...
1hr 13m Nov 27, 2014
1hr 13m
Question time: Jobs of the Future
Today’s jobs have changed far beyond yesteryear’s projections. And instead of planning for one career, we plan for three or four. In this rapidly changing landscape, how can our education institutions meet new demands? And in a world where old professions are disappearing, tertiary fees are rising, and unemployment comes with weighty obligations – how should the kids of today plan for tomorrow...
59m Nov 27, 2014
59m
New News: Media Policy Makers and Shakers: What can government do?
Two years ago, our media was convulsed by panic over the Finkelstein Inquiry into news media regulation and the Convergence Review. What happened about all that, and what should have happened? What, if anything, can government do to encourage a vibrant news media? With Paul Fletcher, parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Communications, Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, Jason Clare, Shadow Mi...
56m Nov 27, 2014
56m