The Conversation

Two award winning chefs talk to Kim Chakanetsa about how they've adapted to restrictions because of the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the pressures it's put on their business and the continuing importance of food and their restaurant staff in their lives. Ana Roš won two Michelin stars after transforming her family restaurant Hisa Franko into a globally renowned dining destination in Slovenia. As a young woman she was a member of the Yugoslavia alpine ski youth team and learned to cook when she and her husband took on his family's restaurant. Ana first worked as a waitress before finding her signature style in the kitchen after the chef left. Amninder Sandhu is known for setting up the first gas-free restaurant kitchen in India, making a name for herself with unconventional, slow-cooked dishes rooted in traditional techniques. The former head chef at Arth restaurant in Mumbai, she was planning to open a new restaurant when the pandemic hit and instead has set up a home delivery service. Produced by Jane Thurlow IMAGE DETAILS L: Ana Roš (credit Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images) R: Amninder Sandhu (courtesy Amninder Sandhu)

Is science fiction too white? Kim Chakanetsa meets two women who are diversifying the genre. They talk about finding inspiration, dealing with rejection, and what Afrofuturism means to them. N.K. Jemisin is an African-American psychologist and science fiction writer. Her Broken Earth trilogy won the Hugo Award for Best Novel three years in a row. She’s the first and only author to have achieved that recognition. In her latest book, The City We Became, she addresses the legacy of racism in science fiction. Chinelo Onwualu is a Nigerian writer and the non-fiction editor of Anathema Magazine. She grew up wanting to write science fiction, but struggled to get her voice heard in a largely white and male-dominated world. She talks about the main narratives and themes emerging within African Speculative Fiction. Produced by Alice Gioia IMAGE DETAILS: L: N.K. Jemisin (Credit: Laura Hanifin) R: Chinelo Onwualu (courtesy of Chinelo Onwualu)

Pottery is one of the oldest and most widespread decorative arts and has enjoyed rising popularity in recent years. At the same time, ceramics are increasingly significant as contemporary art. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two ceramicists about sprigging, drying, firing and smashing; commercial collaborations; and getting their pieces in museums. Hitomi Hosono is a Japanese ceramicist whose delicate work sits in the British Museum and V&A. She's also collaborated with the world-famous Wedgewood pottery manufacturer to make jasperware vases. Her ceramics, with a chalk-like finish and gold embellishments, are rooted in both Japanese and European traditions. Inspired by the intricacy of plants, leaves and flowers her pots seem to sway in the breeze and grow. Israeli ceramicist Zemer Peled took up pottery as part of therapy after a break-up in her 20s and now exhibits at galleries and museums around the world. Her work examines the beauty and brutality of the natural world. She makes large and small-scale sculptures and installations from thousands of porcelain shards – and has a growing collection of hammers! Produced by Jane Thurlow IMAGE DETAILS Left: Hitomi Hosono (courtesy Adrian Sassoon) Right: Zemer Peled (credit Zemer Peled Studio)

Can our modern-day gender biases influence our understanding of the past? Kim Chakanetsa meets two archaeologists to talk about the risks of projecting our own assumptions onto the ancient world.Dr Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson is a senior researcher in the department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Uppsala University in Sweden. She’s also one of the lead investigators on the Viking Phenomenon research project and she’s been studying a grave found in Sweden in the 19th century, which contained the remains of a high-ranking Viking warrior. For more than 100 years this person was assumed to be male. But when Charlotte and her team carried out a DNA test on the bones, they found out they belong to an individual who was biologically female. Her discovery shook the academic world. Dr Sarah Murray is assistant professor at the University of Toronto and she specializes in the material culture and institutions of early Greece. She thinks we should re-consider the way we look at women’s participation in the social and economic structure of Ancient Greece. She recently published a paper dispelling the myth of the so-called Dipylon Master, a pottery artist who has been credited with creating very distinct funerary vases between 760 and 735 BC. Based on her studies, Sarah believes it’s more likely that a group of women were behind these artefacts. Produced by Alice Gioia.IMAGE DETAILS Left: Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson (credit Linda Koffman) Right: Sarah Murray (credit Kat Alexakis)

Kim Chakanetsa meets two environmental champions fighting to save South America's most precious ecosystems. Kris Tompkins is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation. Kris and her late husband, Doug Tompkins, have been instrumental in the creation of 13 national parks in Chile and Argentina, conserving over 14 million acres of land. Dr Dolors Armenteras is one of the world’s leading scientists on forest fires. Originally from Spain, she now works with the National University of Colombia. She spent the last 20 years fighting to save the country’s Amazon forest, and against misogyny in science. Produced by Alice Gioia. IMAGE DETAILS Left: Dolors Armenteras (credit Tania M. Gonzalez) Right: Kris Tompkins (credit James Q. Martin)

Women are big fans of true crime stories… from books, to films, podcasts and TV programmes. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women who've made their name reporting on true crime. Connie Walker is a Canadian journalist whose award-winning true crime podcast series, Missing and Murdered, examines violence and discrimination against women and girls from Indigenous communities. She is Cree and uses the mystery, and twists and turns of true crime to help educate people about Indigenous history.While Tanya Farber was covering the trial of a man who murdered his family she realised that this kind of crime got a lot of attention, as did trials involving women killers. She wrote Blood on Her Hands: South Africa’s Most Notorious Female Killers. They talk about what sparks this fascination when by far the majority of victims and perpetrators of crime are men. Produced by Jane Thurlow IMAGE DETAILS Left: Tanya Farber (courtesy Tanya Farber) Right: Connie Walker (courtesy Connie Walker)

Whether it’s a stroke of a cheek or a sex scene, filming intimate content for movies and TV is a delicate business. When badly handled, it can even cause the actors harm. Kim Chakanetsa talks to an Indian movie director and to a pioneering intimacy coordinator about ensuring actors feel safe on set while filming simulated sex scenes. Also: has the #MeToo movement fuelled a demand for better boundaries, and how is the industry responding? Ita O'Brien is a British movement director and intimacy coordinator for film, TV and theatre. She worked on the set of I May Destroy You, Normal People, Gentleman Jack and Sex Education. She has developed the 'Intimacy on Set' guidelines for those working with intimacy, scenes with sexual content and nudity. Alankrita Shrivastava is an Indian screenwriter and director. Her 2017 movie, Lipstick Under My Burkha, was initially banned in India for containing 'contagious sexual scenes'. She explains the challenges of shooting sex scenes in Bollywood, where nudity isn't allowed, and how to put women's desire at the centre of the narrative.Produced by Sarah Kendal and Alice Gioia for the BBC World Service.IMAGE DETAILS Left: Alankrita Shrivastava (credit Komal Gandhi) Right: Ita O'Brien (credit Nic Dawkes)

The business of selling multi-million dollar homes: Kim Chakanetsa speaks to two women working in Dubai and LA's competitive real estate markets about what it takes to make it. Amanza Smith is a real estate agent and interior designer. She's part of the team featured in the reality TV show Selling Sunset - a real estate agency for eye-popping high-end residential properties in Los Angeles. She says that while growing up poor 'sucks at the time', it's helped make her determined not to fail and has given her an ability to work really hard at everything she does. Lebanese born Zeina Khoury lives in Dubai and is the CEO of High Mark Real Estate Brokers, a specialist luxury property sales and management company in the United Arab Emirates. The agency buys and sells exclusive properties, including opulent apartments in the Versace Palazzo Dubai, for clients based around the world. Producer: Jane Thurlow (Photo: (L) Zeina Khoury (courtesy Zeina Khoury. (R): Amanza Smith. Credit Michael Bezjian/Getty Images)

When a woman chooses not to have children, why is it still seen as a radical decision? Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women about their stories and the stigma associated with their choice to be childfree. Doreen Akiyo Yomoah is a writer and blogs at Childfree African. Born in Accra, Ghana, she has lived in the US, Japan and Senegal and she is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland. She chose not to have kids in her early 20s and she thinks being childfree is part of a wider discussion about reproductive rights and feminism. Nina Steele is the founder and editor of Nonparents.com. She is originally from the Ivory Coast and she is now based in the UK. When she discovered she couldn't have children, she decided to stay childfree. She says her website has become a resource for African childless and childfree women and men alike. Produced by Alice Gioia. IMAGEL: Doreen Akiyo Yomoah (Credit: Lamine Bouan) R: Nina Steele (Courtesy of Nina Steele)

Two of the most decorated female sprinters on the planet, from the US and Jamaica, talk to Kim Chakanetsa about smashing records, the impact of pregnancy, and calling out sex discrimination in their sport.Allyson Felix is an American sprinter who one year after giving birth to a premature baby, beat Usain Bolt’s record for winning the most world championship gold medals. After Allyson exposed her sponsor Nike for asking her to take a 70% pay cut on a new deal post-pregnancy, the brand changed its policy on pregnant athletes.Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has won more 100m world titles than any other athlete in history, male or female. After taking a break from athletics to have a child, she became the world's fastest woman for the fourth time in 2019, bagging two gold medals at Doha.Both athletes are aiming to add to their medal tally at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.Produced by Jane Thurlow IMAGE DETAILS Left: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (credit Will Twort) Right: Allyson Felix (credit Wes Felix)