Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

What can two of Australia's literary greats teach us about letter writing? Brigitta Olubas and Susan Wyndham joined Phillip Adams in the studio to discuss an extraordinary new book of letters penned over forty years by novelists Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower. Hazzard and Harrower: The Letters is published by NewSouth Books.

Lorraine Peeters, herself a stolen child and survivor of Cootamundra Home for Girls, has spent her life healing herself and others, creating the organisation Marumali which provides culturally powerful training to service providers. Her daughter, Shaan Peeters, is now taking over the reins as director.

Water rights were promised to Indigenous communities in the Murray Darling Basin a year ago. What has happened to those commitments from the Federal Government? Guest: Uncle Brendan Kennedy is a Wadi Wadi and Tati Tati traditional owner from Robinvale in Victoria

Johann Hari discusses the health risks and rewards of the new weight loss drugs. What does the huge demand for these drugs say about our troubled relationship with food? Guest: Johann Hari, author of Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight Loss Drugs (Bloomsbury)

Bruce Shapiro has been watching the protests taking place at Columbia University over the last ten days from his office window. 100 students were arrested at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment which has triggered similar protests at campuses across America. Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with the Nation Magazine and Executive Director of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University.

Over the last thirty years, watching wildlife in nature became Satyajit Das' gravitational centre. His new book Wild Quests is a literal and metaphorical record of these travels.

Could the ocean offer us a way to make ethical and emotional sense of the past, and help us re-imagine our relationship to the world? Australian writer James Bradley thinks so. James joined Phillip Adams to talk about his new book Deep Water: The World in the Ocean, which explores the deepest recesses of the natural world and weaves together science, history and personal experience.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's attendance at a rally against gendered violence has backfired as one of the rally organisers claimed he lied about not being asked to speak at the event. Sarah Williams, founder of the 'What Were You Wearing’ organisation has called for an apology from the Prime Minister and a women's strike on May 20. Guest: Laura Tingle, Chief Political Correspondent, 7.30

The tradition of the ANZAC is almost always gendered male (and white). But what about women? They served and died for their country. Historian Melanie Oppenheimer believes they are yet to receive the commemorations they are due. Author of: The Power of Humanity: 100 Years of Australian Red Cross 100 words plus Guests name & book

In his latest book, Life so Full of Promise: further biographies of Australia lost generation , Historian Ross McMullin documents and remembers the lives of three outstanding young Australians who served and lost their lives in World War 1.

A new documentary reveals the little-known role of the Greek Island of Lemnos in the Anzac story, and the multicultural mateship that developed between the Indian, Sikh and Gurkha forces who fought alongside Australia and New Zealand's diggers. Guest: Elizabeth Kaydos, Producer/Researcher of 'Anzac. Lemnos. 1915' - a new documentary screening here on SBS On Demand.

Palestinian lawyer Hiba Husseini and Israeli politician Yossi Beilin have spent decades working towards a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They share why they remain hopeful that peace can be achieved and what it might realistically take to get there. GUESTS: Dr Hiba Husseini, the head of Husseini & Husseini, a law firm in Ramallah and a legal advisor to Palestinian delegations in negotiations with Israel This interview has been edited for accuracy. In the original version Yossi Beilin claimed that Hamas had beheaded babies in the October 7 attack. This has never been verified. Dr Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli politician who served as Israel’s justice minister from 1999 to 2001.

Natalie Haynes has been called a ‘very modern classicist’ for her work bringing the Greek myths to a wide audience through fiction, non-fiction and even comedy. In her new book Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth, Natalie reclaims and re-imagines the stories of deities who have been reduced to stereotypes and bit parts. Guest: Natalie Haynes author of Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth. (Pan Macmillan). Natalie will be a guest of the Sydney Writers’ Festival in May.

PM Rishi Sunak's looks like he has finally got his Rwanda bill through, but will it remain in place if there is a change of government?

How did Germany transform itself from a fascist dictatorship and European pariah post World War 2 to a democratic and economic powerhouse? Author Frank Trentmann joins LNL for a look at this gripping history and the role of contemporary Germany in Europe. Out of the Darkness is published by Penguin Australia

In the tradition of Prime Ministers past, Anthony Albanese heads off to walk the Kokoda trail and shore up relations with PNG. The Treasurer hints at hits to our economic growth forecasts ahead of the budget, and the Opposition changes its tune over the proposed new misinformation bill and aligns itself with government's demand that Elon Musk remove graphic violent content from Platform X. Guest: Laura Tingle, Chief Political Correspondent, 7.30

Two of the most impressive Scottish writers and thinkers are also great friends. Andrew O'Hagan and Professor Karl Miller discuss the power of landscape and history in shaping Scottish imagination and writing, and why Scotland's consistently punched above its weight in these terms. This interview was originally broadcast on 6th September 2012. Guests: Karl Miller died in 2014. Andrew O'Hagan will be at the Melbourne Writers Festival in May 2024.

Long before the satirical film American Fiction made it to our screens, writers and publishers have grappled with the idea of the ‘race novel’. And just as the Black American characters in the film confronted race and class expectations, First Nation writers in Australia find themselves at the mercy of similar prejudices. Writer Tony Birch joins Phillip Adams to discuss First Nations writing in Australia today.

The world’s most expensive spice appears in the written record as early as 2300 BCE, and is revered by cultures around the globe. It takes between 70,000 and 200,000 flowers to produce just one kilogram of dried saffron threads. But the precious and sacred plant is under serious threat from climate change. Guest: Nina Elkadi, Plant Humanities Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard

South Africa goes to the polls on May 29 and the ANC - the party of Nelson Mandela - which has ruled South Africa unchallenged for thirty years, is in trouble electorally. Guest: John Matisonn, journalist and author of God, Spies And Lies: finding South Africa's future through its past, published by Ideas for Africa.