Kick off the year with an Australian take on gothic fiction

Few national holidays attract the same level of division as Australia, but they are almost always political. So what could we learn from occasions like New Zealand’s Waitangi Day?

Yuzuru Hanyu is one of the world's greatest athletes, dubbed the god of figure skating. And the fans that obsessively follow him around the world are a spectacle in and of themselves.

To celebrate the Lunar New Year in 2020, the Year of the Rat, five Asian Australian poets reflect on tradition, legacy, identity, sense of place and navigating a contemporary Australia through verses, voices and poetry beats.

Fiona Pepper, the host of our new audio fiction program, Radio National Fictions, suggests The History Listen’s two-part series Amazon Acres as a highlight from 2019.
“I grew up in a small, coastal and what most would describe as a hippy town on the south coast of WA," Fiona says.
"While I didn’t grow up in an ‘intentional community’, I went to school with plenty of kids that did. So when I heard the characters of Amazon Acres and the dramas that ensued building this women’s-only community, I found the program all too familiar, while completely compelling.
“Each week The History Listen offers you a glimpse into a world just like Amazon Acres.
“You learn a little more about the history of Australia and the world.”
You can hear The History Listen at 11am on Tuesdays on ABC Radio National, or any time on the ABC listen app.