During lockdown, the Irish-Indian poet Nikita Gill created a poetic pandemic time capsule on social media. She shares how she rebuilt hope for herself and her followers, through a daily ritual of writing and sharing.For Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, music has a revitalising, redemptive power. She has overcome challenging personal circumstances and gone on to collaborate with international superstar musicians such as Damon Albarn, Paul McCartney and fellow Malians, Amadou and Mariam. Fatoumata tells Nawal how music has helped her survive - and how she hopes it can do the same for others.And, how will we refresh our wardrobes after a year of dressing down in lockdown? For The Cultural Frontline, US fashion editor Lindsay Peoples Wagner opens her post-pandemic fashion look book.Plus, has a song, a book or a film ever re-energised you and the way you see the world? The acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak reveals the work that recharged her creativity. Presenter: Nawal Al-Maghafi(Photo: Nikita Gill. Credit: Peace Ofure)

During lockdown, BAFTA-winning actor Emilia Clarke discovered the work of the late British novelist and essayist Jenny Diski. Jenny had been a fan of Game of Thrones, the TV series in which Emilia starred as Daenerys Targaryen. Emilia speaks to poet and academic Dr Ian Patterson, who was married to Jenny until her death in 2016, to discuss Jenny’s work and their shared love of cultural escapism.Nigerian author Oyinkan Braithwaite was long-listed for the Booker Prize in 2019 for her debut novel My Sister, the Serial Killer. Lockdown has not slowed her down, and has in fact provided inspiration for the plot of her latest novella The Baby is Mine. She shares how her love of Japanese animation, or anime, has shaped her writing during this time.After a hiatus of ten years, Hong Kong director Yonfan returned to filmmaking with an animation debut, No 7 Cherry Lane. He reveals how he turned to the work of American director Stanley Kramer when its release was impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak.Plus we hear from our listeners across the world about the art that has changed them during the pandemic.Presented by Tumi MorakeProduced by Lucy Wai, Kirsty McQuire, Lucy Collingwood and Nancy Bennie.(Photo: Actor Emilia Clarke. Credit: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

Many of us like to copy the dance moves we see on screen, but award-winning choreographer, JaQuel Knight in the United States, is on a mission to copyright the sequences that he has devised, and encourage others to do the same. You may have watched and tried to imitate his work. He created the steps for Beyoncé's performance of Single Ladies.For the award-winning poet and dancer Tishani Doshi, sometimes words aren’t enough to convey the power of the female body, or the anger she feels when it’s violated. It’s then that her poetry ‘demands choreography.’ She tells Nawal how she fuses verse and movement to embody the message of her writing.How do you go viral in the time of coronavirus? Quang Dang is a Vietnamese dancer and choreographer, who went viral a year ago with a video that made a public health campaign about hand-washing look like fun. Now he’s made a new video, exclusively for the BBC #WSDanceChallenge, imagining the freedom he hopes we’ll all enjoy when we step into the post-Covid world.And French choreographer Marion Motin shares what inspires her steps - hip hop, life on the street and the French film, La Haine.Presenter: Nawal Al-Maghafi Producers: Paul Waters, Kirsty McQuire, Lucy Collingwood, Nancy Bennie, Oliver Jarvis(Photo: Choreographer JaQuel Knight. Credit: Jake Green.)

As part of the BBC World Service festival, South African comic Tumi Morake speaks to global stars and listeners about the art that’s inspired them during lockdown. The actor Dr. John Kani is an icon to many in South Africa and beyond. He is best known from his work in films such as Black Panther and The Lion King, and plays such as Sizwe Banzi Is Dead. When Covid-19 first broke out, he still had two weeks left in a sold-out London run of Kunene and the King, his play about the legacy of apartheid. He tells Tumi how its sudden cancellation affected him and how his passion for South African jazz has kept him going during lockdown.At the start of the pandemic, artist and activist Rose McGowan relocated to Mexico, which also happens to be the home of her favourite artist, Frida Kahlo. She reveals how Frida’s paintings have helped her heal from the trauma of Hollywood fame, and how they’ve inspired her to pick up her paintbrush once again.While many comedians have been kept away from the stage for the past year, comic Rose Matafeo was lucky enough to perform stand-up in her native New Zealand. She shares the challenges of writing and performing stand-up during the pandemic, and how a literary classic has given her hope for a glittering post-pandemic social life. Plus we hear from our listeners in Cuba, Uganda, Vietnam and beyond about the art that has changed them during the pandemic.Presented by Tumi MorakeProduced by Lucy Wai, Anna Bailey, Lucy Collingwood, Mpho Lakaje and Jack Thomason.(Photo: Rose Matafeo. Credit: Andi Crown; John Kani. Credit: Ruphin Coudyzer; Rose McGowan. Credit: @rosemcgownarts; Tumi Morake. Credit: Kevin Mark Pass/Blu Blood Africa)

Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara has collaborated with international superstar musicians such as Damon Albarn, Paul McCartney and Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca alongside her successful career as an actress. Beyond her critical and popular success, her music engages with social issues such as women’s rights, the treatment of migrants and human trafficking. Fatoumata’s most recent album ‘Fenfo’ translates from Bambara as ‘Something to Say’. Fatoumata tells Nawal why she’s chosen to be a voice for the voiceless. With sold out shows in London, Amsterdam and Nepal, an opera about sex workers, made by sex workers is addressing clichés and tackling stigmas through performance. The Sex Workers Opera aims to portray the reality of their lives without glamourizing it or victimising those involved. Our reporter Constanza Hola speaks to the co-director Alex Etchart and some of the performers about the project. Armenian-American musician Serj Tankian from the award-winning heavy metal band, System of a Down talks to Nawal about his music and political activism. A new film, Truth to Power charts Serj’s continuing efforts to speak up on behalf of the Armenian people and explores how rock music can be a unique mechanism for rebellion. Plus: has a book, film or song inspired you to take a certain path in life? The British rock singer Skin from band Skunk Anansie reveals how an unforgettable play influenced her music. Presenter: Nawal Al-Maghafi(Photo: Fatoumata Diawara. Credit: Aida Muluneh)

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)

Multi-award-winning Indian author Amitav Ghosh on using verse and folklore in his new book, Jungle Nama, to tell a cautionary tale about our relationship with the natural world. Pakistani writers, Awais Khan from Lahore and Saba Karim Khan from Karachi, discuss the challenges in getting their English language stories in front of readers in their own country, and the influence of their foreign audience.Amna Mufti in Lahore is an author and award-winning television script writer in Urdu. She tells us how that affects the way she writes stories and their content – and who can and cannot read them. And Assamese author Aruni Kashyap on the vast audiences for Indian literature in the country’s indigenous languages and the centrality of farmers and farming when stories are not being written in English.Presenter: Nawal Al-Maghafi Producer: Paul Waters(Photo: Indian writer Amitav Ghosh. Credit: Barbara Zanon/Getty Images)

American and Japanese animation is known around the world, but how are other countries telling their own stories through animation? The animation industry is growing in India and Ghana, allowing for new perspectives and styles to reach a global audience. We speak to Sharad Devarajan, producer for the Indian animated TV series The Legend of Hanuman, and Cycil Jones Abban, the director of Ghanaian animated film 28th the Crossroads, about representation and upcoming trends and challenges.When Latvian director Ilze Burkovska-Jacobsen was seven, she discovered what she thought were the bones of a World War II soldier in her sandbox. In her animated documentary My Favourite War, Ilze remembers a childhood living under the Soviet regime of the 1970s, where she was forbidden to discuss difficult aspects of the past. She tells us about the lasting trauma of living through that time and the healing power of animation.Can animation be a tool for activism? Over recent months in Poland, demonstrators have taken to the streets protesting against a new ruling which makes nearly all forms of abortion illegal in the country. Students from Łódź Film School decided to create a piece of protest animation against the ban. We hear from artist Weronika Szyma, who co-organised the short film Polish Women’s Resistance. All aboard the Mugen Train! French-Japanese animator Ken Arto describes the art of Japanese animation - anime, and his recent work on a scene in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train, the record-breaking anime that’s become Japan’s highest-grossing movie ever. Presented by Sophia Smith Galer(Photo: Still from Ilze Burkovska-Jacobsen's My Favourite War. Credit: Bivrost Films)

This week, we go behind the camera with some of the world’s leading documentary filmmakers. As the World Health Organisation begin their visit to Wuhan to determine the origins of Covid-19, perhaps some clues can be gleaned from Hao Wu’s documentary 76 days. Alongside his co-directors Weixi Chen and Anonymous, he documented the early days of the pandemic by following the staff and patients of four Wuhan hospitals from January to April 2020. He speaks to Chi Chi about the making of his film. From marches in the streets to meetings in city halls, Suvi West‘s new documentary Eatnameamet - Our Silent Struggle, follows the Sámi people's fight for their culture and land. Shannon Kring’s documentary, End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock, tells the story of the indigenous women who risk their lives to stop the Dakota Access oil pipeline construction in the United States. Suvi and Shannon discuss the challenges, and the urgency of telling the stories of indigenous communities through film. When you think of a secret agent, your mind might not jump to an 85-year-old man. However, in the Chilean documentary The Mole Agent, director Maite Alberdi follows the story of 85-year-old Sergio who has been hired by a private detective to infiltrate a retirement home. Maite spent four months filming inside the retirement home and shares the lessons she learnt while making the documentary. Presented by Chi Chi Izundu(Photo Credit: Hao Wu from the film 76 Days)

This week, we meet the craft makers and textile artists telling new stories through traditional techniques.Sewn in brightly coloured thread and African fabrics, artist Bisa Butler’s stunning quilt portraits often focus on unknown African Americans. Creating her quilts from vintage photos found in the American National Archives, she pieces together their stories using carefully chosen textiles. Bisa talks to Chi Chi about her creative process, storytelling through her quilts and the portrait she’d like to stitch next. When master weaver Porfirio Gutierrez returned home to Mexico after years away, he found the traditional methods he’d grown up with were dying out and he was determined to do something about it. Porfirio Gutierrez tells our reporter Saskia Edwards how he has re-imagined Zapotec rug making to reflect both the ancient and modern world.South African artist Kimathi Mafafo explains how she uses embroidery to represent traditional women in her series, Voiceless and to empower local women by teaching them her craft.Plus: has a film, a book or an artwork ever changed the way you see the world? One of Britain’s leading tailors, Sir Paul Smith tells us about an influential painting as he celebrates 50 years in the fashion industry. Presented by Chi Chi Izundu(Photo: Bisa Butler. Credit: John Butler, courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery)