Life and Art from FT Weekend

This weekend, we’re talking about books. The prestigious Booker Prize is about to announce its 2021 winner, and we hear what it’s like to be a judge—and read a book a day!—with two colleagues, Horatia Harrod and Jan Dalley. We explore how the literary world has changed, from boozy lunches to viral Twitter campaigns, with columnist Simon Kuper and agent Jonny Geller. And ahead of the UN climate sum...

It’s easy for our identities to look like checkboxes: white and black, woman and man, young and old. How do we speak about the communities we belong to without the weight of entirely representing them? Lilah speaks with Jason Mott, author of the National Book Award shortlisted novel Hell of a Book, about race, identity, masculinity and more. Plus, we go sneaker shopping with style columnist Rob Ar...

This week, rock legend Alice Cooper tells us about selling the multi-million dollar artwork he found rolled up in his garage — a story that involves Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí and Dennis Hopper. We also explore the backstabbing families that have inspired HBO’s Succession with chief feature writer Henry Mance, ahead of its season three premiere. And finally: thank you for sharing your recommendati...

As we watch the climate shift before our eyes, this weekend we focus on the awesomeness of nature and how it humbles us. Travel writer Mark Stratton brings us to a live erupting volcano in La Palma, where “the lava flows like honey on a plate”. Columnist Nilanjana Roy introduces us to the prescient books that warned us of a climate crisis 50 years ago. Plus, 1970s interior design is back, baby! Su...

How has the music industry changed over the past decade? The FT’s business and media reporters tell the dramatic tale, and introduce us to the most powerful exec in the business: Universal Chief Sir Lucian Grainge. Then, ethical philosopher Julian Baggini questions what our bookshelves say about us, and Work & Careers editor Isabel Berwick, a Duolingo master, makes the case for learning a new...

This episode, we explore the question of how we’ve changed. Lilah talks to the writer Imogen West-Knights about the phenomenon of treat brain: how the pandemic spurred our desire to excessively indulge. Then, columnist Janan Ganesh describes why lockdown decidedly did not change him — and why he’s worried if it changed you. Plus: Maria Shollenbarger sweeps us away on the world’s most glamorous tra...

Life & Arts columnist Enuma Okoro explores what our cities tell us about ourselves. Then, Lilah speaks with Elif Shafak—the most widely read woman novelist in Turkey—about writing in countries without freedom of speech, and her new book, The Island of Missing Trees. Plus: our prolific Undercover Economist Tim Harford makes a case for letting go of your to-do list. Links from the episode: —Enum...

Twenty years after the Twin Towers were brought down, host Lilah Raptopoulos explores where 9/11 sits in our memories. The FT’s New York correspondent Joshua Chaffin introduces us to billionaire developer Larry Silverstein, who bought the World Trade Center in July of 2001 and had to rebuild on the site of a tragedy. How do spaces change in meaning over time? The FT’s former Kabul correspondent Jo...

In this first-ever episode of the FT Weekend podcast, host Lilah Raptopoulos talks to Eleven Madison Park’s Daniel Humm and Chez Panisse’s legendary Alice Waters to discover how the world’s top chefs are finding purpose beyond their restaurants. Humm created a buzz in May when he announced that his world-famous restaurant would be going entirely plant-based. Has that risk paid off? And what does i...

Welcome to our new show: FT Weekend. Every Saturday, from September 4, join host Lilah Raptopoulos for inspiring conversations, in-depth storytelling, a bit of escapism and a lot of fun. Brought to you by the award-winning Life & Arts journalists at the Financial Times. We love hearing from you. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod , and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap . Email us at ftwe...

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Welcome to our Season 3 finale! To wrap up the year, Lilah is joined by the artist Shantell Martin. Shantell draws big, bold lines. Everywhere. She makes a strong case for taking out a pen. We discuss how to teach art to the next generation, what it means to 'sell out' in the art world, British versus American racism, and an urgent question for this time: who are you? Afterwards, co-host Griselda...

Maaza Mengiste is one of the FT's Women of the Year, and author of the epic historical novel The Shadow King. Her book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia at the start of WWII. It asks massive questions about how history is remembered, recorded and retold. Maaza and Lilah talk about collective memory, women warriors, decolonising the archives...

Simon is one of the world’s premier historians and art historians, and also a colleague! After a tumultuous election, we've invited him on to help connect the dots and give us much-needed historical context. Plus: Neil Munshi, our west Africa correspondent joins us from Lagos to reflect on our conversation and discuss his recent piece on how companies are facing their...

“I feel like America was an experiment that right now is yielding really hideous, ugly results". In the days after the US election, Lilah explores how divided the US is with artist and activist iO Tillett Wright. iO created the hit true-crime podcast The Ballad of Billy Balls. He just finished a ten-year project travelling to all 50 states to photograph 10,000 queer Americans and has a u...

After a summer defined by protest, we invite on Ai Weiwei, one of the most influential artists and activists of our time, to discuss whether we've changed. Weiwei describes how to protest creatively and powerfully ("you only see your power from your enemy's eye"), the symbolic meaning of this pandemic, and his view on the state of humanity. Plus: FT arts editor Jan Dalley joins Lilah to unpack the...

In this bonus episode, we bring you a conversation between Lilah and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former US Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey. In her recent memoir, Memorial Drive , Natasha shares the painful story of her mother's murder at the hands of her stepfather when Natasha was 19. Natasha was born to a black mother and white father in the Deep South during the civil rights movement. When...

Miranda July is an artist ahead of her time: a prolific filmmaker, writer, musician, actor and more. Her work deliberately leads us into discomfort – and then hugs us from behind. Her third feature film, Kajillionaire, now on US and UK general release, is an exploration of loneliness and love that feels especially prescient now. Miranda and Lilah discuss what it’s like to release a film during a p...

The season kicks off on Friday, October 9! With co-host Griselda Murray Brown on maternity leave, Lilah Raptopoulos presents a new series of conversations with creators and thinkers about our radically transformed cultural landscape. We are living through history. The pandemic has exposed deep cracks in our systems, giving us an unprecedented chance to reexamine and upend. This six-episode season...

The world has changed. In the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, Gris speaks to Tyler Mitchell, a 25-year-old photographer, filmmaker and political artist who shot to fame when he photographed Beyonce for the September issue of American Vogue in 2018. In his work, Tyler explores what freedom means for black Americans, and all the ways in which it is denied. Gris first spoke to Tyler in earl...

This week, Lilah talks to Liana Finck, a graphic novelist and New Yorker cartoonist with a fan base on Instagram that’s half a million strong. Liana is known for her funny and astute explorations of what it means to be human. She talks about how to free yourself up to be creative in quarantine, where confidence comes from, the most interesting human expressions to draw and what it’s like to have A...

This week, Gris talks to the brilliant 30-year-old playwright Jeremy O Harris about his Broadway sensation  Slave Play  and his autobiographical  "Daddy" . This is an interview that will stick with you for a long time. They discuss how black art is re-packaged by white institutions, how black and white audiences respond differently to his work, and how to make theatre more acce...

This week, we've dusted off a little gem from our archives. Gris spoke to the writer Sally Rooney in 2018, just before her bestselling novel  Normal People  was published in the UK. It went on to win tremendous acclaim, prizes and the hearts of many readers. Fast-forward eighteen months, and Rooney's tale of passionate young love has been turned into a gripping 12-part TV series on...

This week, we discuss the future of movies with FT film critic Danny Leigh. Will we see a wave of apocalypse dramas once this is over? Are mid-budget films under threat? And what little-known films should we be watching? In the second half of the show, Gris and Lilah take stock of how culture has been adapting to a new virtual reality, from online exhibitions to gigs on Instagram Live. What's work...

This week, we turn to Esther Perel, psychotherapist and host of the hit podcast  Where Should We Begin? , to help put our fears and emotions around coronavirus in context. She also gives us useful strategies for living in lockdown. There are insights in this episode that we think will help listeners in any circumstance, so we've decided to drop it early. We hope you enjoy the episod...