Life and Art from FT Weekend

• Our final episode: thank you

  This is it. Today we present you a massive special episode full of wisdom, which answers your final pressing questions. Listeners wrote in from around the world — from Perth to Virginia to Prague — asking about music, cooking, careers, home, fashion and how to live a good life. Lilah invites her colleagues and friends on to explore them. And now, all there is left to say is a big, loud, wholehearted, vigorous thank you.-------Please keep in touch – Lilah loves hearing from you and will still be posting about culture, food, art and more on Instagram @lilahrap. Email her at [email protected] can read Globetrotter at ft.com/globetrotter and follow along @ftglobetrotter on Instagram.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Tim Harford’s podcast is called Cautionary Tales, and his column is The Undercover Economist. He references Adam Gopnik and Oliver Burkeman, and if you want to lead a better life by spending less time on the internet, he recommends Cal Newport's book Digital Minimalism.– Here are the cookbooks Harriet Fitch Little and Lilah mentioned: Fuchsia Dunlop's The Food of Sichuan, Fadi Kattan's Bethlehem, Maria Bradford's Sweet Salone, and Pati Jinich's Treasures of the Mexican Table. Harriet is on Instagram at @hufffffle.– Isabel Berwick’s Working It newsletter is here, and her book is called The Future-Proof Career.– Eric Platt, at the time of recording, was wearing a heather gray turtleneck and navy corduroys from Officine Générale and black Prada combat boots. If you’re interested in corporate finance, he’s on X and Bluesky @EricGPlatt.– Ludovic Hunter-Tilney mentions Gang Starr’s 1994 song “Mostly tha Voice”, A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy's first album Yo! Bum Rush the Show (1987), and Migos. One of his most listened to songs of 2024 was “Bande organisée”, by Marseille rap group 13'Organisé. Here’s another episode we love with Ludo, on Taylor Swift (Apple, Spotify).– Enuma Okoro is an FT Weekend columnist. Here’s her most recent column, on new ways to think about the new year.-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art listeners are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart-------Music credits: Jive Records, Chrysalis and EMI Records, Quality Control MusicRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Cultural predictions for 2025: the year we accept the chaos

  It’s a time-honored tradition: for the third year in a row, FT Weekend editor-at-large Matt Vella joins Lilah to reflect on this past year, and muse on the coming one. We’ve asked listeners to send their predictions and wishes for 2025, and today we’re talking through them! Will next year bring an end to meme culture? How do we step away from restaurant reservation wars? Will Lena Dunham make a comeback? Plus, Matt tells us why he is embracing chaos, and why we should all let go of the fear of being watched.------ As you know, the show is ending in early January – and you can still send in a cultural question through December. What’s rolling around in your head? How can we help? Email Lilah at [email protected], or connect with her on Instagram @lilahrap.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – You can flip through all of our listeners’ and colleagues’ predictions on Instagram, here– You can read Lena Dunham on Sally Rooney in our 2024 Women of the Year round-up here: https://www.ft.com/womenof2024– Lilah mentions this piece by Anne Helen Petersen on how we’re all posting less on social media, and this opinion piece by Michael Grunwald about the future of farming– Matt mentions the rise of the noodle boys– You can listen to last year’s predictions here, or by searching ‘Life and Art 2024 cultural predictions’– Matt is on X @mattvella-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart-------Music clip from Family ProductionsRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  34:37
• The perfect winter survival guide

  Today we are bringing you a winter survival guide, full of deceptively small tips that will make winter unmeasurably better. How do we best appreciate these cold, dark months? How do we stay stimulated, but also reject the grind? Our FT Weekend Magazine’s resident “winter goddesses” Griselda Murray Brown and Cordelia Jenkins join Lilah armed with tons of delightful suggestions, from buying warm lightbulbs to reading your friends’ dusty old books. They also fight about electric vests. It’s a joy. We hope you love it.------ As you know, the show is ending in early January – we’re still collecting your cultural questions. What’s rolling around in your head? How can we help? Email Lilah at [email protected], or connect with her on Instagram @lilahrap. -------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – For our summer episode, search ‘How to have the perfect summer’ wherever you listen. Here it is on Spotify– The FT Magazine’s advent special is full of tips for enjoying winter– Lulu’s piece about watching 100 Christmas films is here: https://on.ft.com/3BBYrUR– Cordelia mentioned “jealousy lists”: here’s the FT’s list of favourite non-FT articles published this year. Here’s Bloomberg’s (paywall). Cordelia is most jealous of this Guardian piece by Jonathan Nunn about Nicholas Saunders: “Hippy, capitalist, guru, grocer: the forgotten genius who changed British food” – Gris loved Laura Marling’s album Patterns in Repeat. She also mentioned the book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat by Katherine May. – Gris is on Instagram @griseldamurraybrown. Cordelia is on Bluesky @cordeliajenkins-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart-------Music clip from Chrysalis RecordsRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  29:50
• Novelist Elif Shafak: ‘Writers are the memory keepers’

  Elif Shafak’s new novel brings together four stories set in three different centuries: ancient Mesopotamia, 19th century London, a Yazidi village in 2014, and the present day. It connects them through the epic of Gilgamesh, and a single drop of fresh water. Making history come alive is one of Elif’s many talents, and today she shares her thoughts on how novels can fill in the gaps in authorised history. She also talks with Lilah about the importance of the unwritten word — and why she looks to oral traditions to make sense of the past.-------As you know, the show is ending in early January – we’re still collecting your cultural questions. What’s rolling around in your head? How can we help? Email Lilah at [email protected] or message her on Instagram @lilahrap.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Elif Shafak’s new novel There are Rivers in the Sky, is out now in the US and the UK– Read the FT’s review of the book here: https://on.ft.com/4gC9cWd– Lilah spoke with Elif about her previous novel The Island of Missing Trees and the stories we tell ourselves back in 2020. Listen to that interview hereRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  29:46
• Books books books! Our top picks from 2024

  The FT’s books of the year special is out, and today, our literary editor Fred Studemann and outgoing deputy books editor Laura Battle join us one last time to talk about their top picks of 2024. This year has seen some huge releases from authors including Sally Rooney, Miranda July, Alexei Navalny, Al Pacino and Salman Rushdie. What trends did Fred and Laura notice this year? What books did they love? -------As you know, the show is ending in early January – we’re still collecting your cultural questions. What’s rolling around in your head? How can we help? Email Lilah at [email protected] or message her on Instagram @lilahrap.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Books we mentioned: Orbital by Samantha Harvey; Patriot by Alexei Navalny; All Fours by Miranda July; Haunted Wood by Sam Leith; Rosarita by Anita Desai; There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak; Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World by David van Reybrouck; A Voyage Around the Queen by Craig Brown; Killing Time by Alan Bennett; Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman; The Wizard of the Kremlin by Giuliano da Empoli; Hope by Pope Francis (2025); and Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2025)– The FT Books of the Year are out now! Here is a roundup of the FT’s top columnists and editors’ book recommendations for 2024, including Fred’s top picks. Laura’s fiction picks are here.– Food, drink and travel books are here. Music books here. Art and design books are here. Check out the full guide for more (paywall)Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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