Born in London in 1977, Sophie Dahl started her career as a model, appearing in campaigns for Versace, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint-Laurent’s Opium. In 2003, she published her first book, the bestselling illustrated novella The Man With the Dancing Eyes, followed in 2007 by Playing With the Grown-ups. She has published three cookery books and in 2010 presented BBC Two’s cookery series The Delicious Miss Dahl. Her latest children’s book, Madame Badobedah, illustrated by Lauren O’Hara, is published by Walker Books on 3 October.
1. Film
I think we’ve probably watched this about 15 times and it never loses its appeal. It’s about Miguel, a young boy who dreams of being a musician. He ends up going to the land of the dead searching for his idol and meets someone who is connected to him. It’s incredibly original – a masterpiece of a film. I love the music, I love the way it looks, I love what it says. I want that to be how death is. I cry the same way every time I see it.
2. Book
Love and Trouble: Memoirs of a Former Wild Girl by Claire Dederer
So good. It’s a memoir about growing up post-sexual revolution, pre-#MeToo and how the responses of the adults around Claire Dederer shaped her. So much is important: conversations around sex and consent and an adolescent’s right to explore their sexuality and potency without adults thinking it’s an invitation. It’s also funny and smart and very insightful about womanhood, sexuality and marriage. It’s a forensic examination of herself and her marriage, yet it doesn’t feel in any way icky, like she’s revealing too much. Its tone is really thoughtful and considered.
3. Podcast
When I had really big hip surgery, this became a beacon for me. It’s like a real-life southern gothic novel, which I love. It’s about John B [McLemore], a wonderfully eccentric guy living in a small town, which he calls “shit town”. It starts with one mystery but ends up somewhere totally unexpected. I felt very isolated after that surgery because I couldn’t walk, but there was something about listening to John B and the connection he provided – it was something I treasured.
4. Comedy
I’ve been watching a ton of Ali Wong on Netflix. I love everything she does – there’s a fearlessness about her. I love how honest she is and her irreverence about motherhood, about sex, about working. The Baby Cobra special is totally brilliant. There’s this quote that really sums up her comedy: “Giving birth ain’t nothing compared to breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is brutal. It is chronic physical torture… this savage ritual that just reminds you that your body is a cafeteria now. It don’t belong to you no more.”
5. Musical
Late to the party – I only saw it recently and it totally took my breath away. Between the writing and the music and the acting, it was like some divine [creation]... I’m an atheist, but I thought: how did a person write this? I have become that middle-aged woman who listens to the Hamilton soundtrack in my kitchen. My husband thinks one of the reasons I’m so obsessed with the music is that it has a kind of TLC R&B vibe and I’m a child of the 90s. So my entire family mock me regularly for my Hamilton fandom.
6. Album
I’m always either listening to Hamilton, which makes me cry, or Giggs, who makes me laugh. I love Giggs’s humour, his lyricism – anyone who can put in the line “Shit’s Madagascar/ When the monkeys made a poo scatter” is my hero really. That’s from the song Baby, which is my standout from Big Bad.... I listen to this when the kids are at school, so I either listen to it when I take the dog for a run or loudly in the kitchen when I’m meant to be doing something that I’m avoiding doing.