Cirrus@Austlit

'A lost imperial city, full of wonder and marvels. An empire that was the largest the world had ever seen, established with astonishing speed. A people obsessed with travel, knowledge and adventure.

'When Richard Fidler came across the account of Ibn Fadlan - a tenth-century Arab diplomat who travelled all the way from Baghdad to the cold riverlands of modern-day Russia - he was struck by how modern his voice was, like that of a twenty-first century time-traveller dropped into a medieval wilderness. On further investigation, Fidler discovered this was just one of countless reports from Arab and Persian travellers of their adventures in medieval China, India, Africa and Byzantium. Put together, he saw these stories formed a crazy quilt picture of a lost world.

'The Book of Roads & Kingdoms is the story of the medieval wanderers who travelled out to the edges of the known world during Islam's fabled Golden Age; an era when the caliphs of Baghdad presided over a dominion greater than the Roman Empire at its peak, stretching from North Africa to India. Imperial Baghdad, founded as the 'City of Peace', quickly became the biggest and richest metropolis in the world. Standing atop one of the city's four gates, its founder proclaimed: Here is the Tigris River, and nothing stands between it and China.'

'In a flourishing culture of science, literature and philosophy, the citizens of Baghdad were fascinated by the world and everything in it. Inspired by their Prophet's commandment to seek knowledge all over the world, these traders, diplomats, soldiers and scientists left behind the cosmopolitan pleasures of Baghdad to venture by camel, horse and boat into the unknown. Those who returned from these distant foreign lands wrote accounts of their adventures, both realistic and fantastical - tales of wonder and horror and delight.

'In a flourishing culture of science, literature and philosophy, the citizens of Baghdad were fascinated by the world and everything in it. Inspired by their Prophet's commandment to seek knowledge all over the world, these traders, diplomats, soldiers and scientists left behind the cosmopolitan pleasures of Baghdad to venture by camel, horse and boat into the unknown. Those who returned from these distant foreign lands wrote accounts of their adventures, both realistic and fantastical - tales of wonder and horror and delight.'  (Publication summary)

'Let Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski draw you deeper into the human experience with the fifth volume of A Collection of Conversations.

'Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may or may not, have heard about - someone who has seen and done amazing things.

'Benny Agius

When doctors told Benny Agius her baby son had Down syndrome, she was full of anxiety about his future. Then Richard grew up to defy everyone’s expectations.

'Beverly Bass

On 9/11, Captain Beverley Bass diverted her American Airlines jet to a tiny town in Newfoundland, along with thousands of other airspace refugees.

'Bryan Brown

Bryan’s played more than 80 roles on stage and screen. Raised in working-class Sydney, his talent, hard work and unmistakable presence have been his ticket to the world.

'Meg Keneally

The epic life story of a First Fleet rebel as told by Meg Keneally.

'David Gillespie

David Gillespie on how Fortnite and Instagram are altering the neural pathways of a generation.

'Mary-Louise McLaws

Epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws on life during COVID-19, the virus she classifies as both vulnerable and ruthless.' (Publication summary)

'Beloved ABC broadcaster and bestselling author of Ghost Empire and Saga Land, Richard Fidler is back with a personally curated history of the magical city that is Prague.

'In 1989, Richard Fidler was living in London as part of the provocative Australian comedy trio The Doug Anthony All Stars when revolution broke out across Europe. Excited by this galvanising historic, human, moment, he travelled to Prague, where a decrepit police state was being overthrown by crowds of ecstatic citizens. His experience of the Velvet Revolution never let go of him.

'Thirty years later Fidler returns to Prague to uncover the glorious and grotesque history of Europe's most instagrammed and uncanny city: a jumble of gothic towers, baroque palaces and zig-zag lanes that has survived plagues, pogroms, Nazi terror and Soviet tanks. Founded in the ninth Century, Prague gave the world the golem, the robot, and the world's biggest statue of Stalin, a behemoth that killed almost everyone who touched it.

'Fidler tells the story of the reclusive emperor who brought the world's most brilliant minds to Prague Castle to uncover the occult secrets of the universe. He explores the Black Palace, the wartime headquarters of the Nazi SS, and he meets victims of the communist secret police. Reaching back into Prague's mythic past, he finds the city's founder, the pagan priestess Libussa who prophesised: I see a city whose glory will touch the stars.

'Following the story of Prague from its origins in medieval darkness to its uncertain present, Fidler does what he does so well - curates an absolutely engaging and compelling history of a place. You will learn things you never knew, with a tour guide who is erudite, inquisitive, and the best storyteller you could have as your companion.' (Publication summary)

'Let Richard Fidler draw you deeper into the human experience with the fourth volume of Conversations with Richard Fidler.

'Conversations with Richard Fidler draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may, or may not, have heard about – someone who has seen and done amazing things.

'This CD features six interviews from the program:

'Rosemary Stanton is a well known independent nutritionist but what’s less known about her is that she was brought up in a religious sect.

'Professor Jack Beetson was told in school ‘Aboriginal kids just don’t do those harder subjects’ and despite being an outstanding student left school early. He eventually returned to further his education and now champions Indigenous literacy programs all over Australia.

'Lily Bailey has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, something that she concealed from her parents, and friends until she no longer could.

'Graham Long is the CEO and Pastor of the Wayside Chapel in Sydney’s King’s Cross. He lives by the creed that people are not problems to be solved but people to be met.

'Mark Pesce has more than 30 years experience with digital technology. He explores the future being built for us by the likes of Facebook and wonders whether the time is coming when we may not be able to tell the real world from an illusory digital alternative.

'Candice Fox is an award-winning crime fiction writer and her childhood was anything but ordinary.'  (Publication summary)

'Conversations with Richard Fidler draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may, or may not, have heard about - someone who has seen and done amazing things.

'This CD features a selection of six of the best interviews from the program:

'Bill Bailey is a comedian, actor and gifted musician with an endless fascination for creatures and wild places.

'Julee-Ann Bell was born blind and uses a form of echo-location to navigate her way around the world.

'Gregory Smith walked himself into the wider world after years of homelessness, and extreme seclusion.

'Rhoda Roberts lives with the strength of her father's culture and the loss of her twin sister.

'Jeanette Winterson endured a difficult childhood to become one of Britain's most successful writers.

'Warren Brown on the mystery of Lasseter's Reef: a purported gold deposit in the harsh terrain of Central Australia.' (Publication summary)

'A gripping blend of family mystery, contemporary stories and the beautiful and bloody Viking tales, set against the starkly stunning landscape of Iceland.

'Broadcaster Richard Fidler and author Kari Gíslason are good friends. They share a deep attachment to the sagas of Iceland - the true stories of the first Viking families who settled on that remote island in the Middle Ages.These are tales of blood feuds, of dangerous women, and people who are compelled to kill the ones they love the most. The sagas are among the greatest stories ever written, but the identity of their authors is largely unknown.

'Together, Richard and Kari travel across Iceland, to the places where the sagas unfolded a thousand years ago. They cross fields, streams and fjords to immerse themselves in the folklore of this fiercely beautiful island. And there is another mission: to resolve a longstanding family mystery - a gift from Kari's Icelandic father that might connect him to the greatest of the saga authors.' (Publication summary)

'Ghost Empire is a rare treasure - an utterly captivating blend of the historical and the contemporary, realised by a master storyteller.

In 2014, Richard Fidler and his son Joe made a journey to Istanbul. Fired by Richard's passion for the rich history of the dazzling Byzantine Empire - centred around the legendary Consantinople - we are swept into some of the most extraordinary tales in history. The clash of civilizations, the fall of empires, the rise of Christianity, revenge, lust, murder. Turbulent stories from the past are brought vividly to life at the same time as a father navigates the unfolding changes in his relationship with his son.

'Ghost Empire is a revelation: a beautifully written ode to a lost civilization, and a warmly observed father-son adventure far from home.' (Publication summary)

'Conversations with Richard Fidler draws you deeper into the human experience. This CD features a selection of six of the best from the program including: 1. John Howard 2. Magda Szubanski 3. Kate Forsyth 4. Captain Frank Dell 5. Pip Courtney 6. Peter Hoysted' (Publication summary)

'This CD features a selection of six of the best from the program including: 1. JENNIFER SAUNDERS Comedian, writer and actor Jennifer Saunders admits to being one of the world's great procrastinators. 2. MURRAY ARKADIEFF In his life as a bee keeper, Murray Arkadieff has been stung thousands of times. 3. WENDY JAMES Wendy James has twice survived the destruction of Darwin: when it was bombed during WWII, and then, when Cyclone Tracy hit. 4. DIARMAID MACCULLOCH Diarmaid MacCulloch's recent history of Christianity is an expansive account of the religion's growth, struggles and paradoxes. 5. ELEANOR LEARMONTH Eleanor Learmonth is fascinated by true stories of people who've been stranded and isolated in hostile circumstances. 6. STAN GRANT Television journalist Stan Grant is urbane and articulate on screen, but has travelled a long road to success.'  (Publication summary)

'Susan Swingler's father was Leonard Jolley, the man who was married to revered Australian writer Elizabeth Jolley.

'It took Susan decades to unravel the lies Leonard told the family he'd left behind in England when he moved to Australia to make a new life with Elizabeth and their children.

'The deceptions were sustained by Elizabeth Jolley too, deceptions that left Susan hurt, bewildered and incredulous when she eventually discovered them.

'Her memoir of this strange but true family story is called House of Fiction, published by Fremantle Press.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Conversations with Richard Fidler takes you into the exceptional lives of people you′ve never met... people who were living ordinary lives when Something Happened. There′s an explorer who mapped Antarctica in the fifties, with heavy woollen clothing and dog sleds under the shimmering polar sky; a principal who brought philosophy to every part of her primary school′s curriculum and saw the children benefit academically and emotionally; the casting director who discovered as a schoolgirl that her father had been importing large amounts of heroin when police raided the family home; the cartoonist and artist Bill Leak who recounts his bizarre hallucinatory experience of recovering from a head injury ; a community activist and former gangster who experienced a religious moment when a gun was put to his head; and a man who decided to set off in a kayak one day from the Victorian border and kept going all the way to Papua New Guinea.

'In this collection of fifteen stories, Richard Fidler skill as an interviewer is revealed as he draws out people′s deepest hopes and fears, and their stories of ingenuity, failure, triumph and loss.' (From the publisher's website.)

Richard Fidler began presenting his Conversations program while employed at 612 ABC, Brisbane. The show is heard each weekday around Australia on ABC Local Radio and re-re-broadcast on ABC Radio National. Each day’s program is also podcast, making it available to anyone anywhere in world with a digital device. As the program's website notes, 'Conversations is an immersive experience. The format is simple: an hour spent in the life of someone else. Stories from scientists, carers, musicians and philosophers; from boxers, prisoners, princes and prime ministers. Some strange, some sombre, some funny; some mind-bending and many, unforgettable.'

Conversations with Richard Fidler is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s most downloaded podcast.