Imagine being too frightened to visit your corner store or even check your mailbox. There’s a word that Japanese psychologists use for people who go through this: hikikomori. Except this story doesn’t take place in Japan. It takes place in a small country town in Australia.

Hear the full program: http://ab.co/2hk3XQC

This Is About

This Is About... The Lesson

When a 14-year-old Indigenous boy was allegedly run over and killed by a 55-year-old white man driving a ute, a WA mining town erupted. Sarah Dingle investigates death and desperation in Kalgoorlie.

(Warning: This audio download contains strong language that may be offensive to some listeners)

Hear the full investigation: http://ab.co/2f48IKA

Background Briefing

Death in Kalgoorlie

What's a planet

The Art of Fugue XVI. Contrapunctus 12, Inversus

The Art of Fugue XIV. Contrapunctus 11

The mating rituals of six Australian cold climate frogs, Audio supplied by Murray Littlejohn. Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-25/the-weird-mating-calls-of-six-cold-climate-frogs/8741284

Litoria citropa, the Blue Mountains tree frog

Heleioporus eyrei, the WA moaning frog

Litoria raniformis, the growling grass frog

Geocrinia victoriana, the Victorian smooth froglet

Heleioporus australiacus, the giant burrowing frog

Heleioporus barycragus, the WA hooting frog

Aileen Johnston, a Scottish woman born in 1916 moved to rural Queensland in the 50s, Aileen lived in a tiny town called Grantham in the Lockyer Valley in Queensland and taught rural people the art of yoga from the 70s to her death as a 93-year-old woman.  Yoga completely transformed her life. Have a listen to her tapes.

Aileen Johnston's relaxation cassette tape (side 1) from the 1970s

Aileen Johnston, a Scottish woman born in 1916 moved to rural Queensland in the 50s, Aileen lived in a tiny town called Grantham in the Lockyer Valley in Queensland and taught rural people the art of yoga from the 70s to her death as a 93-year-old woman. Yoga completely transformed her life. Have a listen to her tapes.

Aileen Johnston's relaxation cassette tape (side 2) from the 1970s

Australian writer, academic and translator Chris Andrews has played a key role in bringing the work of Latin American writer Roberto Bolaño to the English-speaking world.

Andrews was the first English translator of Bolaño's works, working on many titles including Distant Star, By Night in Chile and Monsieur Pain.

Hear him explain how he got the job, the challenges of translating Bolaño's long sentences, and his own take Bolaño's classic novel, The Savage Detectives.

Image supplied by New Directions Publishing Company.

Chris Andrews on translating Roberto Bolaño

With over 60 distinct programs each week, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National is different from any other media network in Australia. Where else could you hear, for example, an exploration of ideas in science, followed by the latest in books from around the world, then a program about the mind and human behaviour? 



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