Waad al-Kateab and fearless female storytellers

Ahead of International Women’s Day, Nawal al-Maghafi hears taboo-busting personal stories from fearless female creatives on this week’s Cultural Frontline.

After almost a decade of civil war in Syria, Nawal speaks to the Oscar-nominated filmmaker Waad al-Kateab and the journalist Wafa Ali Mustafa about collaborating to share the female experience of conflict. Waad tells Nawal about her award-winning film For Sama, made as a new mother during the siege of Aleppo. Their new film documents the disappearance of Wafa’s father, one of tens of thousands estimated by the UN to have disappeared during the conflict.

British activist Charlie Craggs has created a safe space to combat transphobia. Her unique beauty salon, Nail Transphobia, shares the stories of her trans-sisters over a shape and polish. In the BBC’s Beauty Fix podcast, Charlie reveals the rituals of self-care that are keeping her spirits up during lockdown, with model and author Naomi Shimada.

And it might be one of the last taboos in the fight for gender equality - women choosing not to have children. Israeli novelist Sarah Blau tells Nawal about combining a personal truth with a page-turning thriller, to challenge the stigma of child-free women in her religious community.

Plus, Patricia Cornwell, one of America’s best-selling crime writers, who puts female characters front and centre. She tells The Cultural Frontline about the pioneering female author who set her on course to be a writer.

Presenter: Nawal al-Maghafi

(Photo: Waad Al-Kateab. Credit: Courtesy of Channel 4 News/ITN Productions)