Elif Batuman rethinks Russian literature

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. L ...  Show more

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 ...  Show more

« Pour tous les peuples sans Etat, la littérature est en quelque sorte un remplacement de cet État et fonde l'existence de cette nation. » Iryna Dmytrychyn est historienne, traductrice et maître de conférences en langue et civilisation ukrainiennes à l'Inalco, l’Institut national ...  Show more

Russia has invaded Ukraine. We begin this episode with a visit from FT Weekend editor Alec Russell, a week after he joined us to discuss his years covering the fall of communism in eastern Europe. How can we make sense of this? Then, we go searching for the Hum, a mysterious n ...

This week we bring you one of the most popular episodes from our archive: a conversation with Elif Shafak, the most widely read woman novelist in Turkey. She and Lilah discuss national identity, the generational pain of conflict, and writing in countries that don't have freedo ...

Vanessa Paloma Elbaz talked about her research in Jewish music. We listened to Chant Juif pour la Naissance by Mme. Azeroual, Habibi Lawel by Habiba Messika, and La Llorona by Chavela Vargas.

Vanessa Paloma Duncan-Elbaz has a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne’s CERMOM research gro ...