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Episode details

Radio 4,30 Oct 2026,57 mins

Available for over a year

The colour of soil, sackcloth and chocolate, brown is thought of as a natural colour, a symbol of stability and reliability in psychology and is a descriptor of skin tones. As autumnal colours change the landscape, Shahidha Bari hosts a discussion exploring the different connotations and meanings embedded in the colour brown. Her guests are: Artist and performer Siôn Parkinson is a Research Fellow at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, New Generation Thinker and the author of Stinkhorn: How Nature's Most Foul-Smelling Mushroom Can Change the Way We Listen. Liv Little founded gal-dem, a print and online magazine run by women of colour until 2023. She is the author of two novels Rosewater and now Bitter Melon Taj Ali is a former editor of Tribune and author of Come what may, we're here to stay: The story of South Asian resistance in Britain Kirsty Sinclair Dootson is an Associate Professor in the History of Art Department at University College London and a New Generation Thinker and author of the book The Rainbow's Gravity. She co-founded the Bombay Film Colour Research Network with Ranjani Mazumdar, to produce the first online archive dedicated to colour in Hindi cinema. Tim Hayward writes on food for publications including the FT and books on Steak, Bread and the Cook's knife. He is a panellist on Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet and has presented series including on Fungi - the new frontier. Producer: Ruth Watts

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