Arts

Life Sentences Podcast

by Caroline Baum

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Latest episodes

The Swashbuckler

April 2, 2026 · 43 min

Errol Flynn is still the most famous Australian actor ever to make it big in Hollywood. Best known for athletic and romantic leads in films like Robin Hood, he had lived the life of an entitled boss on plantations in New Guinea as a…
Walks on the Wild Side

March 26, 2026 · 1 hr 11 min

Peter Matthiessen was a giant of American twentieth century letters, and the only writer ever to win the National Book Award in both the fiction and non-fiction categories. He was a complicated man who went to great lengths to escape the…
Shooting the Shots

March 19, 2026 · 50 min

Before Ash Barty, there was Evonne Goolagong, the first First Nations champion at Wimbledon. She was a player endowed with natural ability but also handicapped by plenty of disadvantages. To develop her talent at tennis she has to leave…
In Disguise

March 12, 2026 · 51 min

After the success of her debut novel My Brilliant Career, Australian writer Miles Franklin faced a familiar problem: how to write her next book and what should it be about? Her UK publisher was not keen on her ideas and so she turned to…
Mr Wollongong

March 5, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

Between 1974 and 1991 Frank Arkell was the flamboyant mayor of Wollongong. But his name is forever associated with the infamy of being accused of being part of a paedophile ring. In a sensational twist, he was murdered in his home. As…

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The Very Model of a Modern Governor General

February 26, 2026 · 1 hr 19 min

Authorised biographies, especially of those in high office, tend to suffer from being overly respectful if not downright deferential. But in the case of Juliet Rieden’s authorised biography of Quentin Bryce, the first female Governor…
The Power of Two

February 19, 2026 · 47 min

In this very revealing memoir/biography hybrid, bestselling author Bryce Courtenay’s son Adam explores the motives and personality traits that shaped his father as a public figure and parent. As a pathological fantasist, Bryce could…
A Second Chance

February 12, 2026 · 54 min

Elizabeth Harrower is not a household name in Australian writing, so how has she ended up with not one but two biographies, both published within a month of each other? By sheer coincidence, journalist Helen Trinca and literary editor…
My Sexy Sister

February 5, 2026 · 1 hr 7 min

Australian poet Dorothy Porter blazed across the literary scene like a meteor. She was even more seductive in real life than on the page and broke many women’s hearts in her short but busy amorous life. Now her adoring younger sister…
Big Fish

January 29, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

Although there are several biographies of big game fishing bestselling American author Zane Grey, none of them focus on his two visits to Australia. Author Vicki Hastrich is also a fishing enthusiast, so when she came across Zane Grey…
Fearless

January 22, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min

Fearless Beatrice Faust is an overdue biography of a significant reformist force in the women’s liberation movement of the 60s and 70s in Australia. Written by political scholar Dr Judith Brett, this lively biography returns Bea to the…
French Wave

January 15, 2026 · 33 min

American film critic Carrie Rickey has written the first biography of celebrated French cinema pioneer, Agnes Varda. Varda was born in Belgium but found her creative community in the southern French port town of Sete, which cemented…

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About the show

What is the secret to writing a really juicy biography? Author Caroline Baum interviews seasoned players and persistent newcomers who share their experience of navigating sensitive territory in the search for the real story behind a person’s life. Whether they are writing about the famous or the forgotten, whether their version of events is authorised orunauthorised, biography is a high-stakes quest full of twists and turns.