Michaela Kalowski is an interviewer, moderator and presenter.
She’s interviewed writers and thinkers from the worlds of arts, science and politics. Highlight interviews include Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, Amos Oz, Colum McCann, Trent Dalton, Robert Jones Jr, Stan Grant, Turia Pitt, Holly Ringland, Anthony Horowitz, Daniel Mendelsohn, Sarah Krasnostein, Etgar Keret, Zia Haider Rahman, Sasha Sagan and Laura Marling.
She has conducted radio interviews for Australia’s national broadcaster ABC on programs such as The Music Show and Big Ideas, for ABC Classic and has also presented programs on ABC Radio National, Local Radio and for ABC TV. She regularly facilitates panels and conducts interviews at Sydney Writers’ Festival, Brisbane Writers Festival, Sydney Jewish Writers Festival, UNSW, Sydney Film Festival, for local libraries and community organisations.
Michaela also produces and moderates the Ideas Exchange, a discussion series that’s been running in Sydney since 2017. The series has hosted panel discussions on topics including the future of Artificial Intelligence, North Korea, the changing face of news, the moral obligations of climate change, Death, Dying and Grief, the politics of food and recently Free Speech and combating racism.
Michaela worked for many years in the film industry as a Music Supervisor (‘Romulus, My Father’, ‘Balibo’) and producer. She also produced theatre in Sydney for 15 years. Michaela was the researcher/producer on The Margaret Throsby Interview Program (a flagship daily biographical program loved by a huge audience, on ABC Classic) for close to a decade until that program ended in 2016. She was also a producer/writer on SBS TV political interview series The Observer Effect hosted by Ellen Fanning.
Michaela is the Curator of the Big Weekend of Books – ABC Radio National’s on-air writers’ festival, which began in 2020. In 2021 she was the Acting Program Director for the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival. In 2022 she is Curator of International authors series for the Brisbane Writers Festival. She’s part of the Advisory Council for UNSW Arts and Social Sciences and is also a member of the Witness Institute Advisory group, a US organization to promote moral courage and social justice activism. She also currently works in radio for ABC. She holds an arts/law degree from UNSW.
List of Interviews - International and Australian
Margaret Atwood (Booker Prize winning writer/poet/essayist)
Colum McCann (writer/activist)
David Mitchell (writer)
Amos Oz (writer/activist)
Michael Connelly (crime writer)
Zia Haider Rahman (writer)
Roger Cohen (New York Times journalist/writer
Tommy Wieringa (writer)
Laura Marling (musician/songwriter)
Carlos Acosta (ballet dancer/writer)
Assaf Gavron (writer)
Sasha Sagan (writer)
Christine Leunens (writer)
Dr Leonid Petrov (Academic/expert on North Korea)
Mark O’Connell (journalist/writer)
Nir Baram (writer)
Henry Marsh (neurosurgeon/writer)
Armando Correa (journalist/writer)
Yasmin Levy (Ladino singer/musician)
Sinan Aral (Professor MIT, academic/writer)
Professor Susan Neiman (moral philosopher/academic)
Garrick Ohlsson (pianist)
Etgar Keret (writer)
Dr Jane Park (Cultural Studies academic)
Deborah Feldman (writer)
Dr Rabbi Ariel Burger (writer/teacher)
Evie Wyld (writer)
Ryan Adams (musician/songwriter)
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers (The Indigo Girls)
Peter Frankopan (writer)
Zeruya Shalev (writer)
Michal Michaeli (MP)
Alisa Weilerstein (cellist)
Gideon Raff (screenwriter/producer)
Daniel Mendelsohn (writer/critic)
Imogen Cooper (pianist)
Anne Sebba (British historian/writer)
Kiran Hargrave (English writer)
Avni Doshi (Indian author)
Kate Murphy (American journalist, writer)
Trent Dalton (writer/journalist)
Stan Grant (journalist/writer)
Lily Brett (writer/poet, OAM)
Holly Ringland (writer)
Charlotte Wood (writer)
Ben Quilty (artist)
David Leser (journalist/writer)
Tom Keneally (writer)
Richard Fidler (writer/broadcaster)
Bram Presser (writer)
Julia Baird (journalist/writer)
Turia Pitt (athlete, mindset coach, writer)
Dr Rodney Syme AM (euthanasia advocate)
Di Morrissey (writer)
Michelle de Kretser (writer)
David Williamson (playwright)
Robyn Davidson (writer)
David Francis (writer)
Emile Shermon (film producer)
Anna Goldsworthy (writer/musician)
Eliza Henry-Jones (writer)
Nikki Gemmell (writer)
Joanna Murray-Smith (playwright)
Diane Armstrong (writer)
Gabrielle Jackson (journalist/writer)
Sandra Leigh Price (writer)
Jessica Rowe (journalist/writer)
Michael Sala (writer)
Suzanne Leal (writer/lawyer)
Alan Gold (writer/human rights activist)
Lally Katz (playwright/screenwriter)
Toby Marsh (Academic - Artificial Intelligence)
Jakelin Troy (Leading socio-linguist/academic)
Bibi Barber (painter/artist)
Tara Moss (writer/human rights activist)
Dr Meera Atkinson (writer/academic)
Ben Lee (musician/songwriter)
Samuel Wagan Watson (poet/writer)
Mick Harvey (musician/songwriter)
Rudi Bremer (Broadcaster/presenter)
Kate McClymont (award winning journalist/writer/podcaster)
Jacqueline Maley (Author, journalist)
Erica Power (somatic psychotherapist)
Emily Bitto (Author)
Miles Allinson (Author & painter)
Rhett Davis (Author)
Robert Lukins (Author)
Yumi Stynes (TV presenter/podcaster/writer)
Dr Melissa Kang (Medical doctor, health advocate/writer)
Claudine Ryan (podcaster, producer, writer)
Linda Jaivin (writer)
Bernadette Brennan (writer, literary critic/academic)
Bill Birtles (journalist/writer)
Professor Jing Han (academic)
Mark Mordue (writer, poet)
Kate Morton (writer)
Todd Alexander (writer)
Anwen Crawford (writer/artist)
Alison Croggan (writer/critic)
Ashe Davenport (writer)
Lech Blaine (writer)
Fiona O’Loughlan (writer/comedian)
Testimonials
“You could not possibly find a wiser, deeper, funnier, more professional person to be interviewed by or have moderate an event. You enter a Michaela Kalowski interview wanting to help her learn more about you. Then by the end of the interview you realise it was Michaela who was helping you learn more about yourself. Neat trick, and one you need to see for yourself.”
Trent Dalton, Author
“When you combine a questing mind and rigorous research with a big warm heart, you get one of the best interviewers in Australia. That’s Michaela Kalowski, every writer’s - and audience’s - dream interviewer.”
David Leser, Journalist & Author
“Interviewing me onstage is not a walk in the park, but Michaela was fully up to the job. Flexible, smart, light on her toes, funny -- a good time was had by all, me and the audience included.”
Margaret Atwood, Author.
‘Michaela Kalowski is a class act. She read not only my latest book, but was clearly familiar with my backlist, and waded through two decades’ worth of interviews and profiles. Michaela emailed ahead of time to ask which questions had been coming up repeatedly during my media round, so she could guide our interview towards fresher territory. (This matters more than ever in the digital book tour age when interviews will have a long-term afterlife on YouTube – too many identical interviews in which the author gives polished answers to identical questions reflects poorly on the author. Unfair but true.) She also asked about no-go areas and boundaries. As it happens, I don’t really have any, but not everyone bothers with this simple tactic to avoid live-streamed awkwardness.
During the interview Michaela was everything you’d wish – thoughtful, tactful, respectful, a great listener, an adept joiner of dots. Learning about her background in journalism came as no surprise – it feels as if she’s been perfecting her art of enquiry for decades. By the end of our hour, I had heard myself say things I hadn’t said before: not because of Michaela’s guile (!) but because she has a knack of finding new topics new angles of incidence onto old topics; and encouraging her interviewees to examine received wisdoms.
A conversation is a kind of collaborative artwork made by both / all participants, and in this spirit, Michaela is a gifted co-creator. She brings the merits of her personality to work, but leaves her ego at the door. As someone who has been interviewed by the good, the bad and the ugly (and once, even the mildly stoned) over 20 years and counting, I can attest that Michaela is a versatile, unflappable, curious and engaging interviewer.’
David Mitchell