Episodes
| Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estonia | 20220429 | 20220911 (R4) | Five cultural figures from the front line of Russia's border with Europe - Lithuania, Finland, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia - explore their national psyche in uncertain times. Their words weave with sounds and encounters from their home city as they explore their country's history, ambitions and distinctive character in the 21st century. Our essayists across the series include a rapper and media commentator, a former President, a celebrated art critic, a dystopian novelist, and a distinguished literary director. Today - Former Estonian President (2006-2016) Toomas Hendrik considers his nation's post-Soviet rebirth as a world-leading digital society, a cradle of e-commerce, telecommunications and digital democracy. --- Speakers featured are: ygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania) - rapper, spoken word artist and media commentator Producer: John Beauchamp A Free Range and Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Essays from leading cultural figures on the front line of Russia's border with Europe. Essays from leading cultural figures on the 'front line' of Russia's border with Europe. Five cultural figures from the front line of Russia's border with Europe - Lithuania, Finland, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia - explore their national psyche in uncertain times. Their words weave with sounds and encounters from their home city as they explore their country's history, ambitions and distinctive character in the 21st century. Our essayists across the series include a rapper and media commentator, a former President, a celebrated art critic, a dystopian novelist, and a distinguished literary director. Today - Former Estonian President (2006-2016) Toomas Hendrik considers his nation's post-Soviet rebirth as a world-leading digital society, a cradle of e-commerce, telecommunications and digital democracy. --- Speakers featured are: ygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania) - rapper, spoken word artist and media commentator Producer: John Beauchamp A Free Range and Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Essays from leading cultural figures on the front line of Russia's border with Europe. Essays from leading cultural figures on the 'front line' of Russia's border with Europe. |
| Finland | 20220426 | 20220825 (R4) | Five cultural figures from the front line of Russia's border with Europe - Lithuania, Finland, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia - explore their national psyche in uncertain times. Their words weave with sounds and encounters from their home city as they explore their country's history, ambitions and distinctive character in the 21st century. Our essayists across the series include a rapper and media commentator, a former President, a celebrated art critic, a dystopian novelist, and a distinguished literary director. Today - Novelist Emmi Itaranta considers the Finns' reputation as a silent, deadly Resistance, historical connections between her home city of Tampere and Manchester, and the quandary of "resting Finn face". --- Speakers featured are: ygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania) - rapper, spoken word artist and media commentator Producer: John Beauchamp A Free Range and Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Essays from leading cultural figures on the front line of Russia's border with Europe. Essays from leading cultural figures on the 'front line' of Russia's border with Europe. Five cultural figures from the front line of Russia's border with Europe - Lithuania, Finland, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia - explore their national psyche in uncertain times. Their words weave with sounds and encounters from their home city as they explore their country's history, ambitions and distinctive character in the 21st century. Our essayists across the series include a rapper and media commentator, a former President, a celebrated art critic, a dystopian novelist, and a distinguished literary director. Today - Novelist Emmi Itaranta considers the Finns' reputation as a silent, deadly Resistance, historical connections between her home city of Tampere and Manchester, and the quandary of "resting Finn face". --- Speakers featured are: ygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania) - rapper, spoken word artist and media commentator Producer: John Beauchamp A Free Range and Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Essays from leading cultural figures on the front line of Russia's border with Europe. Essays from leading cultural figures on the 'front line' of Russia's border with Europe. |
| Latvia | 20220428 | 20220908 (R4) | Five cultural figures from the front line of Russia's border with Europe - Lithuania, Finland, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia - explore their national psyche in uncertain times. Their words weave with sounds and encounters from their home city as they explore their country's history, ambitions and distinctive character in the 21st century. Our essayists across the series include a rapper and media commentator, a former President, a celebrated art critic, a dystopian novelist, and a distinguished literary director. Today - Literary director and author of the acclaimed novel Soviet Milk, Nora Ikstena explores the ideas, politics and stereotypes that link the modern nations of Latvia and Ukraine - and their shared (and complicated) experience of Russian colonisation. --- Speakers featured are: ygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania) - rapper, spoken word artist and media commentator Emmi Itaranta (Finland) - novelist and commentator; author of the dystopian novel Memory Of Water; Paula Erizanu (Moldova) - arts critic, political commentator and former Culture Editor of The Calvert Journal; Nora Ikstena (Latvia) - literary director and author of the novel Soviet Milk about female experience in Soviet-occupied Latvia; Toomas Hendrik Ilves (Estonia) - former Estonian president and writer on digital democracy. Producer: John Beauchamp Executive Producer: Steven Rajam A Free Range and Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Essays from leading cultural figures on the front line of Russia's border with Europe. Essays from leading cultural figures on the 'front line' of Russia's border with Europe. Five cultural figures from the front line of Russia's border with Europe - Lithuania, Finland, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia - explore their national psyche in uncertain times. Their words weave with sounds and encounters from their home city as they explore their country's history, ambitions and distinctive character in the 21st century. Our essayists across the series include a rapper and media commentator, a former President, a celebrated art critic, a dystopian novelist, and a distinguished literary director. Today - Literary director and author of the acclaimed novel Soviet Milk, Nora Ikstena explores the ideas, politics and stereotypes that link the modern nations of Latvia and Ukraine - and their shared (and complicated) experience of Russian colonisation. --- Speakers featured are: ygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania) - rapper, spoken word artist and media commentator Producer: John Beauchamp A Free Range and Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Essays from leading cultural figures on the front line of Russia's border with Europe. Essays from leading cultural figures on the 'front line' of Russia's border with Europe. |
| Lithuania | 20220425 | 20220818 (R4) | Five cultural figures from the front line of Russia's border with Europe - Lithuania, Finland, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia - explore their national psyche in uncertain times. Their words weave with sounds and encounters from their home city as they explore their country's history, ambitions and distinctive character in the 21st century. Our essayists across the series include a rapper and media commentator, a former President, a celebrated art critic, a dystopian novelist, and a distinguished literary director. Today - Lithuanian spoken word artist ygimantas Kudirka considers the strange and sobering history of his home nation, where surreal is beautiful. --- Speakers featured are: ygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania) - rapper, spoken word artist and media commentator Producer: John Beauchamp A Free Range and Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Essays from leading cultural figures on the front line of Russia's border with Europe. Essays from leading cultural figures on the 'front line' of Russia's border with Europe. Five cultural figures from the front line of Russia's border with Europe - Lithuania, Finland, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia - explore their national psyche in uncertain times. Their words weave with sounds and encounters from their home city as they explore their country's history, ambitions and distinctive character in the 21st century. Our essayists across the series include a rapper and media commentator, a former President, a celebrated art critic, a dystopian novelist, and a distinguished literary director. Today - Lithuanian spoken word artist ygimantas Kudirka considers the strange and sobering history of his home nation, where surreal is beautiful. --- Speakers featured are: ygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania) - rapper, spoken word artist and media commentator Producer: John Beauchamp A Free Range and Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Essays from leading cultural figures on the front line of Russia's border with Europe. Essays from leading cultural figures on the 'front line' of Russia's border with Europe. |
| Moldova | 20220427 | 20220901 (R4) | Five cultural figures from the front line of Russia's border with Europe - Lithuania, Finland, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia - explore their national psyche in uncertain times. Their words weave with sounds and encounters from their home city as they explore their country's history, ambitions and distinctive character in the 21st century. Our essayists across the series include a rapper and media commentator, a former President, a celebrated art critic, a dystopian novelist, and a distinguished literary director. Today - Arts critic Paula Erizanu unravels her tangled double identity as both Moldovan and Romanian, and considers how her nation has been shaped by the scars of its post-Soviet identity and frozen conflict in Transnistria. --- Speakers featured are: ygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania) - rapper, spoken word artist and media commentator Producer: John Beauchamp A Free Range and Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Essays from leading cultural figures on the front line of Russia's border with Europe. Essays from leading cultural figures on the 'front line' of Russia's border with Europe. Five cultural figures from the front line of Russia's border with Europe - Lithuania, Finland, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia - explore their national psyche in uncertain times. Their words weave with sounds and encounters from their home city as they explore their country's history, ambitions and distinctive character in the 21st century. Our essayists across the series include a rapper and media commentator, a former President, a celebrated art critic, a dystopian novelist, and a distinguished literary director. Today - Arts critic Paula Erizanu unravels her tangled double identity as both Moldovan and Romanian, and considers how her nation has been shaped by the scars of its post-Soviet identity and frozen conflict in Transnistria. --- Speakers featured are: ygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania) - rapper, spoken word artist and media commentator Producer: John Beauchamp A Free Range and Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Essays from leading cultural figures on the front line of Russia's border with Europe. Essays from leading cultural figures on the 'front line' of Russia's border with Europe. |