Good Weekend Talks

In this episode, we speak to Joe Camilleri. The singer, songwriter and sax man is perhaps best known as the one constant in Australian rootsy blues rock band The Black Sorrows, a group that was born more than 40 years ago. The 77 year old musician, however, has been recording and touring for more than six decades, and created more than 50 albums. That includes his latest - The Quintessential Black Sorrows - a compilation of remaste...

In this episode we talk to author Brigid Delaney, whose writing about her alarmingly numerous misadventures in life belies a more serious, intellectual side. Those two sides came together in her book exploring the wellness industry, Wellmania (comedian Celeste Barber plays a version of Delaney in the Netflix series of the same name).

She recently took a dive into stoic philosophy, including the 2022 bestseller Reasons Not to Worry,...

For decades, families in Australia and overseas, have been accused of one of the worst crimes imaginable – child abuse. Diagnosing Murder is an investigative podcast about parents who've had their children taken away, sat in the dock and even done time in prison. All for something they insist they didn't do – shake their baby. Can we trust the science behind shaken baby syndrome? Or are innocent people being locked up f...

In this episode, we talk to TV and food personality Melissa Leong, the subject of the cover story in Sunday Life's September 28 issue.

Leong has worn many hats: talented pianist, advertising executive, food writer and even UFC broadcast host. But it’s the three years she spent as a judge on MasterChef Australia that made her a household name, and also put her under the spotlight.

In this interview with Sunday Life associate e...

In this episode, we talk to Stephanie Lake.

The former dancer turned choreographer is the artistic director of Stephanie Lake Company, and also the resident choreographer for The Australian Ballet.

She’s the winner of many awards, including the Helpmann, and while her rise was stratospheric, it wasn’t always linear.

It was also somewhat delayed: Lake was a late bloomer in her chosen field, dancing in her teenage years o...

In this episode, we talk to Ken Done. The legendary Australian artist has been splashing colour across canvases for more than four decades, from instantly recognisable depictions of Sydney Harbour to vibrant doona covers and T-shirts. Today he talks about his "Mad Men" days in advertising, the critics and characters that defined his career – as well as the “real reason" he wanted to go to art school – with The Syd...

In this episode, we talk to Elizabeth Gilbert. Her memoir – Eat Pray Love – sold millions, became a hit movie starring Julia Roberts and encouraged readers to embark on their own spiritual journeys. But for the author, it was the death of her new partner many years later that actually helped her find what she was looking for. That’s all detailed in excruciating fashion in her latest book – All The Way to the...

In this episode, we talk to Cate Campbell. Australian Dolphin number 665 debuted at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 at the tender age of 16. The teenager won two bronze medals at those games, and that was only the beginning. In her 16-year career in the pool, Campbell won eight Olympic medals – four of them gold – and breaking seven world records (her record for the 100-metre short-course freestyle still stands). The 33-ye...

In this episode, we talk to Andy Griffiths. The children’s author has written 40 books, including The Day My Bum Went Psycho, and the wildly popular Treehouse series. Griffiths has been published in more than 35 countries, and sold an astonishing 13 million copies in Australia and New Zealand alone. He’s led an interesting life, too. He wanted to be a frontman in a punk band, but ended u...

In this episode, we talk to Tracey Holmes. The TV trailblazer has spent more than three decades covering Australian sport and dissecting some of the biggest sporting events on the planet, bearing witness to the rise and rise of women's sport, which has had to bust through the walls of misogyny and male chauvinism. Her new book, The Eye of the Dragonfly is part memoir, part sporting manifes...

In this episode, we talk to AFLW star Libby Birch. She's done something no other female or male player has done - winning three premierships at three different clubs, with the Western Bulldogs, the Melbourne Demons and the North Melbourne Kangaroos. Since joining the league in its inaugural season, Birch has also played 91 consecutive games of AFLW (only two women have played more), and at just 27 has more than a few years left. Sh...

In this episode we talk to Jess Cattelly, the co-founder of Sydney swingers club Our Secret Spot. The 32-year-old got into swinging – also known as The Lifestyle - when she was just 20, and her Parramatta Road venue has since become an example of the way in which the swinging community is changing. Middle-class suburban key parties are no longer, nor is the practice as grimy or seedy as popular culture might have you imagine....

In this episode, we talk to Sarah Wilson. She’s had an incredibly diverse career - from teenage model, to newspaper columnist, to women’s magazine editor, and then best-selling author of the book, I Quit Sugar, in 2012. More books followed, on anxiety, and finding purpose in a disconnected world, especially through the climate change crisis. Now she’s focused on cascading and wicke...

In this episode, we talk to Hugh de Kretser. The president of the Australian Human Rights Commission has quite the job. Never has society been more polarised, with distressing displays of religious and ethnic hatred bursting onto our streets - while at the same time the relevance of the commission itself has been called into question. De Kretser, who gave up a promising corporate legal career to work in community law, is up for the...

In this episode, we talk to Danielle de Niese. The internationally acclaimed soprano has dazzled audiences since childhood – from her breakthrough on the TV show Young Talent Time at just nine years old to starring on the world’s greatest opera stages. She joins us to chat about her life in music, and what keeps her voice – and spirit – so vibrant. Following a remarkable path which also includes an early Emm...

In this episode, we speak with Mark Dapin. Dapin is a veteran true crime writer, with a career including a stint as editor of the lad mag Ralph - but also as a columnist for Good Weekend. He has spent many, many hours with infamous hardened criminals, and now - for a story in the current issue of Good Weekend - has flipped sides to see through the eyes of aspiring police officers. Dapin - an irreverent but incisive and insightful w...

In this episode, we talk to Vincent Fantauzzo – the Melbourne portrait artist famous for hyperrealist renderings of a long list of prominent people. He’s painted movie stars (like Hugh Jackman), underworld figures (like Mick Gatto), politicians (like Julia Gillard), sporting heroes (like Oscar Piastri) and icons (like Michael Gudinski). Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall profiled Fantauzzo for a June cover story...

In this episode, we talk to Mark Brandi. The renowned crime novelist writes about outsiders: heroin addicts, former prisoners and child victims of poverty and violence – and joins us to chat about his new book, Eden, out on June 25. We take a look at Brandi's family background, including the racist, small-town harassment of his father – as well Brandi' earlier career in corrective services – both of which shed lig...

In this episode, we talk to award-winning investigative journalist Patrick McGee, who for years led the Financial Times’ reporting on the meteoric rise of Apple Inc to become the world’s most valuable company after being on the brink of bankruptcy in 1996. As the iPod, iPhone and iPad revolutionised the way we live, Apple injected eye-watering amounts into China – more than $US50 b...