Get to the heart of our deepest multicultural Australian relationships – the one with our grandparents!
There’s something special about the nonnas, zeidas and babushkas who have shaped not just the generations that followed them, but Australia itself.
Comedian Lizzy Hoo is the host of SBS’s new podcast Grand Gestures, an interview podcast with 10 notable Australians re-telling family stories and speaking about the special bonds they have with their grandparents.
Hear heart-warming and heart-breaking stories of grandparents who were second parents, confidants, heroes, and custodians of knowledge and traditions.
“Grand Gestures is like a warm hug from your grandparents – it’s full of warmth and stories that remind you of your own loved ones,” said Hoo.
“Especially as we get older, we start to realise our grandparents are the keepers of all the family stories and histories.”
A tapestry of multicultural and multilingual Australia, Grand Gestures talks candidly about the triumphs and challenges of settling in Australia, the migrant experience, and multi-generational, cross-cultural family life.
“There’s a lot of laughs, beautiful stories about happy times but also stories of overcoming life’s challenges like illness, disability and discrimination.”
Unique and personal, Grand Gestures has a diverse line-up of guests:
- Singer Deni Hines talks about growing up in a family of three strong women; her mother pop icon Marcia and her Jamaican grandmother Esme who moved in to help raise Deni when Marcia became pregnant as a teenager.
- Former Masterchef contestant Alice Zaslavsky shares how her love of gardening, food and teaching comes from her Georgian grandmother.
- Actress Pia Miranda became a household name through the Australian cult classic, Looking for Alibrandi. She speaks about deepening her connection to her nonno and nonna’s family and religion, including spending her 50th birthday in a Sicilian cemetery.
- Walkley Award winning journalist Pat Abboud shares the love story behind his grandparents’ arranged marriage and learning Arabic in the kitchen with his teita (grandmother).
- Singer-songwriter Emily Wurramara reflects on growing up going between her gagu (grandmother) in the Northern Territory learning Dreamtime stories and singing karaoke at her Filipino grandmother’s house.
- Comedian Emo Majok’s reflects on the legacy of his grandmother, who escaped war-torn Sudan and now has around 50 descendants in Australia.
- Nadine J. Cohen shares how, after the death of her parents, she and her sister were left with the responsibility of caring for her grandmother who survived the Holocaust, but whose mind returned to that time increasingly as her health declined.
Grand Gestures is available on the SBS Audio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LiSTNR, and wherever you stream podcasts. Grand Gestures was produced in partnership with Deadset Studios.