Author, poet and academic Tony Birch celebrates the success of so many First Nations writers but there is always room for improvement in the publishing industry. From the LNL Archive we hear a conversation with Andrew O'Hagan and Karl Miller recorded in Edinburgh in 2012.

Nelson Mandela's African National Congress has held power for more than thirty years, but that could soon change. And saffron is the world's most expensive spice, revered as sacred in many cultures. But climate change is making the delicate flower that produces it harder than ever to harvest. 

Bruce Shapiro takes us inside Donald Trump's first day in court as a criminal defendant. In China, the Communist Party keeps tight control of the narrative of the history of China. Ian Johnson introduces us to the artists and film makers who are challenging that narrative - at their own peril.

7:30's chief political correspondent Laura Tingle unpacks the Lehrmann defamation verdict dominating news headlines, and we speak to neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky who makes the provocative argument that we have no free will, at all.

Sir John Franklin is honoured in Hobart as the discoverer of the infamous North-West passage through the Arctic, but a closer look at the story examines how much he relied on women's help and Indigenous knowledge. Also, in the age of scrolling, is it history for the chapter?

Aussie Ark's Tim Faulkner explains why he believes the imminent rewilding of the eastern quoll will be successful this time, after 50 years of extinction on the Australian mainland. Social philosopher Anne Manne tells the harrowing story of the Anglican paedophile ring in Newcastle and the brave group of people who brought it down.

In the UK, Ian Dunt reports on the pressure building over the sale of arms to Israel, Stephen Long questions the carbon credits NSW is hoping for in order to save the state's koalas and Judith Keene details the legacies of the Spanish Civil War in both Spain and across the globe. 

Crikey's Bernard Keane on how the government has responded to the IDF review into Zomi Frankcom's death. Plus, playwright David Williamson tells Phillip why he has come out of retirement to write a play about the housing crisis and the increasing divide between Australia's haves and have-nots.  

Ecofeminist Vandana Shiva explains the significance of adding ecocide to the list of crimes that the ICC can prosecute. And Henry Grabar makes his case for reducing the number of car parks on our planet.

Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American professor and Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. Viet's memoir, A Man Of Two Faces, is published by Black Inc. and Viet will be a guest at the Sydney Writer's Festival later this month. What makes humans so unique? Our ability to learn. So says computer scientist and Harvard Professor Leslie Valiant. His new book is called “The Importance of Being Educable”  published by Princeton University Press.