Rebecca Watson

Saturday, 7 March, 2026

Tuesday, 17 February, 2026

A Hymn to Life — Gisèle Pelicot’s story of survival, courage and grace

What are we without our past? An extraordinary memoir documents Pelicot’s struggle to keep her identity alive in the aftermath of her husband’s monstrous crimes

Saturday, 7 February, 2026

Life & Arts

The treacherous business of screen-to-stage

A theatrical adaptation for ‘The Traitors’ shows how audiences are being kept in the comfort zone

Rebecca Watson

Saturday, 17 January, 2026

Dance

I came to Woolf Works a sceptic — now I can’t stop going back

Wayne McGregor’s creation is back at the Royal Opera House — and it captures vividly what it is like to experience Virginia Woolf’s writing

Saturday, 10 January, 2026

Life & Arts

Have you given up on your New Year’s resolution yet?

Humans are stubbornly resistant to change, but think small and you might succeed

Rebecca Watson

Wednesday, 31 December, 2025

Books

What to read in 2026

From the Ozempic story to books on power, money and the new world order — plus fiction by Julian Barnes, Amitav Ghosh and others — here are some top titles to look out for in the new year

Saturday, 20 December, 2025

Music

FT writers on their most thrilling musical discoveries of 2025

Beethoven through new eyes, a jazz saxophonist with a rock bent, restless Rosalía and more

Saturday, 13 December, 2025

Life & Arts

Lessons from my own Traitorish experiment

Festive gatherings provide the perfect opportunity to study — and game — group dynamics

Rebecca Watson

Saturday, 22 November, 2025

Life & Arts

It’s time to stop claiming people are ‘cancelled’

The phrase is permission not to think too closely

Rebecca Watson

Saturday, 4 October, 2025

Life & Arts

When did celebrities lose their mystery?

The publicity circus around new film and TV releases leaves me hungry for old-fashioned opacity

Rebecca Watson

Saturday, 23 August, 2025

Fictions: a photography special

‘Look away’, a new story by Rebecca Watson

Written in response to a triptych by Barbara Probst, for FT Magazine’s photography special

Saturday, 16 August, 2025

Life & Arts

Why do we get beauty so wrong?

It is endlessly subjective, unexpected, malleable — yet we pretend that it follows a simple formula

Rebecca Watson

Saturday, 12 July, 2025

Life & Arts

My return to education

Aged 21, I was sure I wouldn’t study again. Now I’m embarking on a part-time degree

Rebecca Watson

Saturday, 7 June, 2025

Theatre

Sarah Kane’s plays are hugely influential — so why are they rarely staged?

Her work shocked audiences and critics in the 1990s — but new revivals point to the enduring potency of the playwright’s vision

Saturday, 8 March, 2025

Life & Arts

What makes a good self-help book?

Studying how our minds work is not about vague therapy jargon — it’s about paying attention

Rebecca Watson

Saturday, 11 January, 2025

Film

Can erotic films move beyond pornography?

‘Babygirl’ and a new ‘Emmanuelle’ portray female desire but struggle to avoid stock fantasy

Saturday, 2 November, 2024

Life & Arts

Boris Johnson and the bestseller trick

His memoir may have hit the charts but things are not quite how they seem

Rebecca Watson

Wednesday, 16 October, 2024

Books

Gliff by Ali Smith — paranoia and control in a not too far-off future

The fable-like story of a family shunning the rules of a surveillance state asks where our world is heading

Saturday, 5 October, 2024

Life & Arts

Sally Rooney and the two sides of fame

It’s not ingratitude to acknowledge the tension between acclaim and attention

Rebecca Watson

Saturday, 6 July, 2024

Life & Arts

The Euros give a glimpse of a purer patriotism

Following the national team makes me aspire to an Englishness I’m comfortable with

Rebecca Watson

Saturday, 27 April, 2024

Life & Arts

Encounters with the Westminster honeytrapper

It took her three minutes to say she was blocking me — but the story didn’t end there

Rebecca Watson

Thursday, 28 March, 2024

In the footsteps of . . .

Ischia — in the footsteps of Elena Ferrante

The Neapolitan novelist remains an enigma but echoes of ‘My Brilliant Friend’ linger on its heroine’s beloved island

Friday, 22 March, 2024

Life & Arts

Three cheers for the pub

Traditional drinking holes are becoming scarcer as big chains move in, but the best of them connect you with a sense of history and community

Rebecca Watson

Friday, 16 February, 2024

Life and Art from FT Weekend podcast17 min listen

Culture Chat: Margaret Atwood, John Grisham and friends write a novel

In an experiment whose proceeds will go to the Authors Guild of America, 36 authors including Margaret Atwood, John Grisham, Dave Eggers, and Celeste Ng, wrote a collaborative novel

Friday, 22 December, 2023

Life & Arts

Lunch with the FT. Writer Francis Spufford: ‘I’m a sucker for a redemptive arc’

The author on borrowing from life, the joy of fictional ‘gizmos’ — and why we need more stories