Courtney Barnett: Music and Silence
Sunday Life Magazine :: November 1, 2015
Courtney Barnett is the biggest thing in Australian music at the moment. And she's found fame by following no one's star but her own. She talks to David Leser Read article
Why I have never stopped loving the Beatles
Sydney Morning Herald :: November 21, 2017
I was 6½ years old when I saw the Beatles perform Love Me Do on Britain's Granada Television. Like anyone old enough to remember that moment in 1962, I was thunderstruck – by the harmonies, the haircuts and the wavering harmonica that John Lennon was playing. Read article
A.D. Hope: The Rime Of The Ancient Bludgeoner
Good Weekend :: January 14, 1989
At eight years of age he had written a 52-stanza poem for his mother on the virtues of Christianity. By the time he died was the patriarch of Australian poetry. Read article
Anjelica Huston – Daughter of a Dynasty
Australian Women's Weekly
Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston tells David Leser how she gave up dating rogues such as Jack Nicholson, dealt with the hearbreak of never being a mother and now has an "impossibly happy" relationship. Read article
Asher Keddie: The Girl Who Played Ita
Australian Women's Weekly :: August 28, 2011
From Ita's lisp to Blanche's vulnerability, Asher Keddie has made celebrity roles her own. Yet there's more to this versatile actress than mere mimicry, as David Leser discovers Read article
Who Is Justin Bieber?
Australian Women's Weekly :: June 28, 2011
He's the floppy-haired teen at the top of the pop music tree, but is Justin Bieber a formidable talent or a marketing ploy? Whatever the answer, David Leser discovers that Bieber Fever is here to stay. For a while anyway. Read article
Barbara Blackman: A Poetic Life
Australian Women's Weekly :: January 1, 2005
Writer and poet Barbara Blackman brought up three children, nurtured her artist husband Charles' gift, made their home the hub of Australia's art circle and, she explains here, made her blindness a corridor to a different sort of existence. Read article
Dame Edna Everage wins over the Yanks
Australian Women's Weekly :: September 30, 2001
Superstar housewife Dame Edna Everage has taken the US by storm on a hugely popular tour. Her alter-ego, Barry Humphries, has hidden behind the glasses and glitz for years, but here we enter the mind of Edna's complex Read article
He’s Alright Jack
Good Weekend :: May 29, 2010
He's a wave-riding, solar-powered soft rock phenomenon. David Leser talks to Jack Johnson about how he turned his naturally laid-back lifestyle into a stellar career Read article
Make Love, Not War … Unless You’re My Daughter
Australian Women's Weekly :: May 28, 2011
Richard Neville hit the headlines in the 1960s as the co-founder of Oz magazine and advocate of free love. Yet, as David Leser discovers, when it came to raising his daughters, he was nothing if not prudish. Read article
Margaret Fink
Australian Women's Weekly
Bohemian wild child and friend of the famous and infamous, film producer Margaret Fink talks to David Leser about the highs and lows of her amazing life. Read article
Margaret Olley
Australian Women's Weekly :: February 28, 2008
Amid the eclectic clutter of her home - the source of inspiration for much of her lifetime's work - iconic Australian artist Margaret Olley talks frankly about life, work and growing old Read article
Meryl Streep: The Greatest Actress of Her Time
Australian Women's Weekly :: January 28, 2012
She is being hailed for her portrayal of former British PM Margaret Thatcher, but off-screen, Meryl Streep is a much-loved wife and mother of four. Here she talks to David Leser about life and all its choices. Read article
Neil Finn – Something so strong
Good Weekend in the Weekend Australian :: June 20, 1998
Crowded House seemed unstoppable; then Neil Finn decided to pull the plug and return to New Zealand. David Leser met the singer there and found a man balancing domestic tranquility against the edgy darkness of his own imagination. Read article
Norma Khouri: The Inside Story of a Disgraced Author
Australian Women's Weekly :: February 28, 2007
Feted then demonised, Norma Khouri, author of the best-selling book, Forbidden Love, was revealed as a fake. On the eve of a new film about her, David Leser asks Norma why she conned him and thousands of others. Read article
Paul Kelly
HQ Magazine :: June 2, 1991
His songs make even hard-headed rock veterans weep. Meet Paul Kelly, arguably the finest songwriter Australia has produced. Read article
Piano Forte – Roger Woodward
Good Weekend :: May 19, 1999
Overlooked or overbearing? In search of the real Roger Woodward. To his supporters, he's a pianist's pianist, a brilliant virtuoso, overlooked and misunderstood. To his detractors, he's demanding, obsessive and difficult. Is Roger Woodward his own worst enemy? Read article
Richard Wherrett
Good Weekend
Meet Richard Wherrett, the man they once called Australian theatre's most powerful individual Read article
Robyn Nevin
Australian Women's Weekly :: March 28, 2008
Robyn Nevin is a legend of Australian theatre. David Leser meets the charismatic - and sometimes controversial - actor-director as she prepares to step back on stage in a one-woman play directed by Cate Blanchett Read article
Shay Stafford – Memoirs of an Aussie Showgirl
Australian Womans Weekly :: November 1, 2010
Shay Stafford went from tapping down the aisle at Woolies to twirling in a banana costume in BrisVegas. Yet when she became a showgirl at Paris’ famed Moulin Rouge, she found love. David Leser tells her story. Read article
Slava Grigoryan – The World at his Fingertips
Good Weekend in the Weekend Australian
Slava Grigoryan is a 2O-year-old who drinks, chases girls and plays pool with his mates. He is also a guitar virtuoso who is being hailed as Australia's next John Williams. Read article
Miranda Otto: Truth Seeker
Sunday Life :: February 28, 2016
Miranda Otto's star keeps rising in Hollywood. She speaks to David Leser about re-imagining Ibsen, family and the power of secrets Read article
Irina Baronova: The Dance Of Life
Australian Women's Weekly :: September 28, 2005
Kings and queens, dictators, film stars and giants of the art world have all worshipped at the feet of legendary Russian ballerina Irina Baronova. Here she tells David Leser about her extraordinary and colourful life. Read article
Susan Sarandon
Australian Women's Weekly :: June 28, 2006
Would you fly 31,000 kilometres to spend an hour with someone. David Leser would, but only if that someone was Susan Sarandon Read article
The Art and Life of Judy Cassab
Australian Women's Weekly :: August 28, 2003
Famed for her vivid portraits and major art awards - including two Archibald Prizes - Judy Cassab has survived Nazi persecution, poverty and enjoyed a great, enduring love. Here she reveals her amazing story. Read article
Men At Work
Good Weekend :: July 21, 2012
In the early 1980s, a catchy flute riff helped to propel Men At Work's Down Under to the top of the pop charts across the globe. But nearly 30 years later, as a legal battle over the tune's origin came to a head, the very success of the song was to have tragic implications. Read article
The Bomb Thrower from Lower Snug – the Cassandra Pybus story
Good Weekend in the Weekend Australian :: July 31, 1999
To some, Cassandra Pybus is the fearless, vigilant outsider, a bold exposer of cant and hypocrisy. To her enemies, still reeling from bruising encounters, she is an arrogant troublemaker. Even the writer herself admits to being high-handed. Stand by for her latest literary missile. Read article