The Verb

On this week's edition of The Verb, Ian McMillan gathers together -

Wendy Cope - the poet whose 1986 debut collection "Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis" became that rare thing - a poetry best seller. As her first collected poems are published she reflects on poetry forms and why some of her old poems are making their first public appearance in her new book.

Ira Lightman, poet and artist, reflects on the nature of the epic. A marathon endeavour for poets and readers, it's usually seen as an ancient style but it is a form of poetry that contemporary poets continue to embrace including Ira himself.

Susie Dent, known for her ability to find just the right word, discusses her new novel, Guilty By Definition in which a group of lexicographers use their dictionary-making skills to solve a mystery.

Theresa Lola, former Young People's Laureate for London reads from her new collection, Ceremony for the Nameless, a poetry disquisition on the subject of naming.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Ekene Akalawu

This week on The Verb Ian McMillan is joined by Paul Farley, author of the bird-centred 2019 poetry collection 'The Mizzy'. Especially for The Verb he's written us a brand new poem that considers birds on our workplace, inspired by new 'Nature Postive' building regulations.

Malika Booker is tackling this week's 'Neon Line' poem. Booker won the Forward Prize for 'Best Single Poem' in 2023 and she takes us through the 2024 winners, who have recently been announced.

Linguist and author of 'You're All Talk', Rob Drummond brings us up to speed on langauge change.

And there's a brand new comission from Kate Fox on Strictly Season as well as a reading from her new book 'On Sycamore Gap' - inspired by the famous tree near Hadrian's Wall that was felled last year

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Jessica Treen

Ian McMillan talks to Margaret Atwood and Alice Oswald about how we write poetry, and their own process, the natural world, time, and the possibilities of myth.

BBC Contains Strong Language 2024 took place in Sydney Australia in partnership with Red Room Poetry and ABC Australia . This special edition of The Verb was recorded in State Library of New South Wales n front of a audience as part of the festival.

With guests Eileen Chong the first Asian Australian poet to be on the school syllabus, who came to Australia from Singapore in 2007.

Singer songwriter Paul Kelly - described as the Laureate of Australia - whose latest project sets the work of poets as varied as Shakespeare and Les Murray to music .

Omar Sakr - the son of Turkish and Lebanesemigrants whose collection The Lost Arabs won the prestigious Prime Ministers Literary Award .

Ali Cobby Eckermann - a First Nation poet who only met her birth mother as an adult. She, her mother and grandmother were all stolen , tricked or adopted away from their families . Her poetry talks powerfully about this personal and national story .

Recorded with an acknowledgement of the Gadigal people the traditional custodians of the land where this edition of The Verb took place Produced by Susan Roberts

Bringing you the best in Australian spoken word poetry . A special edition of Adverb, recorded at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta the creative edgy hub of West Sydney. Featuring the founder of the exciting Bankstown series of poetry slams Sara Mansour along with many of the poets who have performed there in slams that attract huge audiences to poetry .

The Dharug people are the traditional custodians of the land upon which this performance was recorded in front of an audience.

Here 7 of the best perform their work.

Presented by Ian McMillan with

L-Fresh the Lion Yleia Mariano Sara Mansour Adrian Mouhajer Hani Abdile Mohammed Awad and Dobby

Recorded live at the sunny Latitude Festival Ian McMillan has gathered three top poets for The Adverb - The Verb's showcase of the best live poetry and readings.

Dr John Cooper Clarke is a legend of the punk poetry scene and gets us into gear with a poem about the thrilling allure of the hire car. The best art can come out of limitations and Luke Wright shows his amazing lyrical dexterity with a poem entirely based on the assonance of the letter A.

And TS Eliot prize winner Joelle Taylor spellbinds the crowd with an autobiographical poem about growing up as a butch lesbian, touching on her early life in Accrington.

Along the way, the Barnsley Bard Ian McMillan offers us some of his own work, including a no-holds-barred anaylysis of the perils of drinks machines.

Presented by Ian McMillan Produced by Kevin Core

Why does 'mean' have so many meanings? Why do poets take metaphor so seriously? Why do objects like pink ghetto blasters make poems live? And why are the filaments of our eyes in the edges of the snow?

To answer these surreal, and not so surreal questions - Ian McMillan is joined by Alistair McGowan, Caroline Bird, and Toria Garbutt, and presents an 'eartoon' - a cartoon for the ear, from Richard Poynton (otherwise known as Stagedoor Johnny).

Alistair McGowan is an impressionist, actor, writer, pianist, and now - poet. He joins Ian McMillan in a pun-off - the first time such an event has ever been staged on national radio (probably). Alistair's collection of poems is called 'Not what we were expecting' (Flapjack Press).

Toria Garbutt is a spoken word artist, poet and educator from Knottingley. She shares tender, funny poems from 'The Universe and Me' (Wrecking Ball Press) many of which take us into her relationship with her sister when they were young, and reveal how much poetry there is in the objects of childhood.

Caroline Bird's new poetry collection is called 'Ambush at Still Lake' (Carcanet). She reads poems of motherhood which are like 'upside down jokes' and take 'toddler logic' (like the idea that imaginary carrots have completely run out) to surreal and sinister conclusions. Caroline also presents us with our neon line, a stand-out line from a classic poem, and explores why it works so well. It's this mystery poem which proposes that there are 'filaments of our eyes' in the 'edges of the snow'.

Richard Poynton is a writer and performer (also known as Stagedoor Johnny). He stars in his own invention, a backstory for the origin of the English language, which explains why it has so many words with multiple meanings. In this week's Eartoon Richard introduces us to a 'mean' lasagne. (you won't want to meet it down a dark alley).

Crocodile-like men, fireflies, a soul hitching a ride on a bee, the coolness of Switzerland, anagrams, and a mysterious rhyming poem - all this and more from Ian McMillan's guests this week - as they explore the way a poetic image can change the way we see things,

Arji Manuelpillai is a poet and creative facilitator. His poetry collection 'Improvised Explosive Device' (Penned in the Margins) emerged through research and interviews with academics, sociologists, and former members of extremist groups and their families. He also presents a poetry podcast: 'Arji's Pickle Jar'.

Mona Arshi is a poet, and was a human rights lawyer. Her poetry collections are 'Small Hands' and 'Dear Big Gods' (Pavilion), and she recently published her first novel 'Somebody Loves You'. Mona's third poetry collection will be published next year.

John McAuliffe is a poet, and a director of the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester. He has published six poetry collections - and his latest - 'National Theatre' (Gallery) will be out shortly. John unravels our 'neon' line this week ( a stand-out line in a classic poem) and explains why it works so well.

Tom Chatfield is a novelist, writer and tech philosopher - and now author of 'Wise Animals: How technology has made us what we are' (Picador). He helps us pit human poets against AI or more precisely - against Large Language Models - to see what human poets can still do best.

Frogs who love rain, the poem that came from a magpie, the poetry of the peleton, and the everyday language of dating apps. Ian McMillan's guests this week (Hollie McNish, Testament, Ira Lightman and Liz Berry) bring all of this to the studio table and much, much more.

Hollie McNish's latest book is 'Lobster and other things I'm learning to love' - she shares a pluviophile poem that shows how much joy there can be in realistic love.

Ira Lightman is an innovative poet and artist and this week, especially for The Verb, he turns the Salford studio into a poetry version of the Tour de France - including a hot potato.

Liz Berry's latest book is 'The Home Child' - she celebrates the poetry of Charlotte Mew, and reads a brand new poem inspired by a frightening but enchanting encounter with a magpie.

Testament is a rapper, beatboxer, poet and playwright. His careful attention to the everyday language of people from different political positions, and to the language of dating apps informed his play 'Love in Gravitational Waves' - he shares some of the poetry that its characters write.

Ian McMillan is joined by poets and poetry lovers for this celebration of language recorded at this year's Hay Festival.

The actor, Harry Potter star, Dickens virtuoso and national treasure Miriam Margolyes shares one of her favourite poems, the 19th century poet Robert Browning's 'My Last Duchess'. Miriam invites listeners to imagine the Duke, who is the speaker in the poem, as being like 'Hannibal Lecter' from 'The Silence of the Lambs' - a good planner, who has killed his wife.

Irish novelist Kevin Barry has written three novels and four collections of short stories - a master of dialogue, and a beloved voice in the New Yorker magazine. He explores the poetry of the language in his most recent novel 'A Heart in Winter'.

Gwenno has won awards and acclaim for her haunting and groundbreaking song-writing and performances. Gwenno's albums Le Kov and Tresor are in Cornish (she has a Welsh mother and a Cornish father). She joins Ian to share her love of the Welsh artist and poet Edrica Huws, who achieved fame late in life as a visual artist. Her poem 'Vingt-et-un' has stayed with Gwenno, and she explains why Edrica is a creative inspiration.

The poet Owen Sheers explores a poem with a stand-out line (what we call on The Verb the 'Neon Line'). This week the poem explored is 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' by the Irish poet W.B. Yeats. Is it the 'bee-loud glade' that has caught Owen's attention, or something else? Ian finds out. Owen has an acute ear for language, with writing often inspired by his interviews with real people, for books like 'The Green Hollow'.

The appeal of 'the road less travelled by', Emily Brontë as self-help guru, a new way to look at Little Red Riding Hood and the 'little miracles' we might notice when we care for the elderly; Ian McMillan celebrates poems that explore all of these ideas with his guests, the poets Len Pennie, Malika Booker, Kate Fox, and Michael Symmons Roberts.

Michael Symmons Roberts' poetry collections include 'Drysalter', 'Mancunia' and 'Ransom'. This week Michael explores Robert Frost's poem 'The Road not Taken' and sheds light on the strange power of the 'neon' line in the poem (a memorable line that takes the poem to another level) 'I took the road less travelled by'.

Kate Fox is a stand up poet, spoken word artist and broadcaster, her latest poetry collection is 'Bigger on the Inside'. Kate has written a new poem for The Verb in which Emily Brontë advises us that most of our thoughts 'are nowt but hill fog' and that problems can be solved by 'a walk or a big dog', or 'a walk with a big dog'.

Malika Booker is the only poet to have won The Forward Prize for best single poem twice - she reads one of those winning poems, 'The Little Miracles' for The Verb. Malika founded the groundbreaking poetry workshop 'Malika's Kitchen' with Roger Robinson. Her books include 'Pepper Seed' and her poetry can be found in the 'Penguin Modern Poets' series.

Len Pennie's collection 'Poyums' is a best-seller, and explores domestic violence and misogyny with energy, wit and inventive rhyme, It's written in a mixture of Scots and English. Len has a huge following on social media, partly down to her celebration of a 'Scots word of the Day'. For The Verb, she reads a poem about telling the story of a relationship in your own words, and considers the influence of Robert Burns.

What's it like being awake at 4am? How do we feel about toads? Where does the word chortle come from, and when is an anthem truly personal?

Ian McMillan gets to the heart of these questions through brand new poetry commissions, exploring the poems and poets we love, and through celebrating language's delights and quirks - all in the company of his guests: the poets Jackie Kay and Helen Mort, the actor Paterson Joseph, and the singer, songwriter and song 'treasurer' Sam Lee.

Guests: Helen Mort's latest books are 'The Illustrated Woman' and 'A Line Above the Sky'. She shares a new commission called 'Corners' about the experience of being awake at 4am. Sam Lee joins her for the performance.

Jackie Kay is the former Scottish Makar - her new poetry collection is May Day. Jackie discusses a poem by the Scottish poet Norman MacCaig called 'Toad', and reads her own poem 'Cairn'.

Sam Lee's new album is Songdreaming. Sam is an arranger, folksong interpreter, passionate conservationist, song collector and creator of live events. He performs 'Banna's Lonely Shore', a song that he heard the Irish Traveller Nan Connors perform, and which he has never heard anywhere else.

Paterson Joseph is an award-winning writer and actor, known for his powerful Shakespearian performances as well as his comic roles in television series like 'Green Wing' and 'Peep Show'. Paterson performs Lewis Carroll's 'Jabberwocky'. His novel is called 'The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho'.

The Verb, which for the past 22 years has been bringing linguistic delights to the Radio 3 audience, will be leaving to make its new home on Radio 4.

But in a mood of celebration Ian McMillan and his guests put the number 3 in the spotlight as they explore the magic and the power of three in poetry, storytelling and writing; with poet and memoirist Don Paterson to guide us around those poetic forms based on the number three, by long-time Verb favourite Ira Lightman with a brand new commission, storyteller and author Daniel Morden and The Bookshop Band who'll be performing songs inspired by books and by The Verb.

Presenter: Ian McMillan

Producer: Cecile Wright

Ian McMillan is leaning into unease this week as he discusses writing and Claustrophobia. His guests are Holly Pester, whose new novel 'The Lodgers' examines the psychological disturbances of precarious housing situations; we meet a woman renting a flat that is more like a sandwich packet than a house, and another who must make her own life extremely small as she lodges with a family.

Catherine Coldsteam’s new memoir is ‘Cloistered’, a book about the twelve years she spent in a Carmelite monastery where she lived the life of a silent contemplative nun.

Hannah Sullivan won the T.S. Eliot award for her collection ‘Three Poems’. Her latest book ‘Was it For This’ considers a life shrunk small by new motherhood.

The last in our series of Verb Dramas is Ghost In The Machine by Karen Featherstone

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Jessica Treen

On International Women's Day Ian McMillan is joined by poets Joelle Taylor, Rommi Smith, Kim Moore and Shirley May to explore how women poets are using poetry and writing to explore and challenge sexism and to empower women through words. There's also music from soul singer, Sarah-Jane Morris, and musician, Tony Remy, from their new album 'Sisterhood'. Rommi Smith reads a poem specially written for The Verb celebrating the colour purple; in 'The Night Alphabet', Joelle Taylor's first novel, one woman’s tattoos are each portals to a story of repression and women’s resistance, violence and justice; Kim Moore's poetry explores and exposes everyday sexism, gender, class and also performance as a female poet; Shirley May writes from the perspective of the Caribbean diaspora and reflects on stories of the women who came before her, and the young women poets finding their voices now.

Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ practise notebooks, pianist Stephen Hough’s account of tackling Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, the voice of Fairport Convention’s Sandy Denny in the words of Scottish poet Don Paterson, and E. M. Forster’s evocation of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in Howard’s End: just some of the texts we’ll hear on tonight’s celebration of writing about music.

Ian’s joined by four Radio 3 presenters to discuss the challenges of all sorts of music writing, from concert reviews to programme notes, memoirs, poetry, fiction, and scripts for radio. His guests are Essential Classics Georgia Mann who pored over Oasis reviews in the N.M.E. in her teens, Hannah French from The Early Music Show who once read a biography of Pablo Casals in a day, Composer of the Week’s Kate Molleson who started out writing concert reviews at University in Montreal, and Corey Mwamba who presents Freeness and immersed himself in jazz books at Southampton library whilst doing his A-Levels.

Producer: Ruth Thomson

The World in Words. The Verb, presented by Ian McMillan, revisits the Contains Strong Language which was held in Leeds in September of last year. It was a gathering of poets from all over the world and featured Felene Cayetano from Belize, Andre Bagoo from Trinidad and Tobago, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo from Kenya, Lebo Mashile from South Africa, Chris Tse, the Poet Laurete of New Zealand, Ramya Jirasinghe from Sri Lanka and Titilope Sonuga.

This week it’s the ‘cabaret of cuteness’ as this week Ian McMillan and his guests examine all things small, fluffy, wide eyed and sleepy in The Cute Verb. Ian is joined by poet Isabel Galleymore who reads from her new collection Baby Schema which asks what we ask cuteness to do for us and follows Mickey Mouse’s journey towards cuteness across the past one hundred years. Tom Morton Smith wrote the smash-hit RSC adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro, here he helps us consider being cute as well as being big, noisy, smelly, and a little bit scary. Karen McCarthy Woolf’s new experimental verse novel is ‘Top Doll’, a story told by a chorus of cute and not so cute dolls. And finally Kate Fox imagines a meet-cute between a cute creature and a not so cute one – can cute be an eco-strategy?

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Jessica Treen

This edition of the verb is a celebration of the physical - everything from mountain climbing, human desire, a mother's touch or the act of writing. The poet Helen Mort writes in her head, while running, climbing and she even wrote one whilst in labour. She tells Ian about her new collection The Illustrated Woman - inspired by what she calls a "pain epiphany" while being tattooed - and how her poems "spookily" prefigure her life.

The Norfolk born writer Jon Ransom wrote The Whale Tattoo, which won the Polari first book award, on his phone on the bus. His new novel The Gallopers opens in the aftermath of the 1953 North Sea flood where 19-year-old Eli yearns for Jimmy Smart, the handsome older fairground worker his aunt has taken in.

And award-winning poet Victoria Kennefick has written on the back of her child's drawings and on shop receipts when an idea urgently strikes. She tells Ian McMillan about her collection Egg/Shell, inspired by a lockdown encounter with a swan whose eggs wouldn't hatch.

Produced in Salford by Olive Clancy.

The Verb goes back to the brilliant Contains Strong Language Festival held in September last year in Leeds to consider the poetics of rap, rhyme and flows with a celebration of 50 years of hip hop. Rapper and playwright, and friend of The Verb, Testament led a panel discussion on one of the 20th and 21st century’s most powerful and influential literary movement with guests UK rapper Jehst, writer and spoken word performer Michelle Scally Clarke, and hip hop luminary Paul 'Oddball' Edmeade.

Ian McMillan presents a special extended interview with writer and novelist Tessa Hadley. Tessa Hadley's books are admired for the flowing, thoughtful intensity of her prose; and she is a master of capturing the humanity of domestic lives and the quietly devastating drama of the everyday. Hadley is a writer with a keen eye for the telling detail and a gift for bringing everything she has, sees and knows about life to the characters she creates. Her first novel was published when she was 46 and since then she has written short stories as well as novels.

Producer: Cecile Wright

Ian McMillan presents a celebration of remarkable poets and poetry readings from one of the major events in the poetry calendar: the TS Eliot Prize Readings at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The prize is awarded annually by the TS Eliot Foundation for the best collection of the year. The winning book Self-Portrait as Othello by Jason Allen-Paisant also won the 2023 Forward Prize.

Ian McMillan is looking at, and listening to, the wonderfully different ways we use language with three poets: Daljit Nagra whose new collection Indiom celebrates language in more than forty different poetic forms; Nasser Hussain whose poems take us deep into individual words often creating patterns so that build something new, and Safiya Kamaria Kinshas; a poet, dancer and choreographer whose work weaves together dance and poetry on the page and stage. And we’ve also got one of our new Verb Audio Dramas made in collaboration with BBC Writers and the BBC Audio Drama North team: No Smoking In The Ground by Matthew Smith.

Producer: Cecile Wright

Ian McMillan ho ho hosts a special Christmas edition of The Verb from the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge, recorded in front of a live audience. With stories and verse and song to bring comfort and joy, from poet Jackie Kay, singer-songwriter Amelia Coburn, international storyteller Danyah Miller and doorstep poet Rowan McCabe who's been knocking on stranger's doors and offering to write them a poem especially for The Verb. So pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable. Are you ready? Then we'll begin...

Producer: Cecile Wright

What does a good life mean in 2023 and beyond? The Verb returns to the future for a look at stories for a fast-changing planet. This week we hear from some of the most talented storytellers in the world - who have looked at (both literally and metaphorically) the retreat of the glaciers and asked themselves “what can I do now as a writer to help make a good future?'.

Ian McMillan is joined by Ben Rawlence, author of 'The Treeline: the last forest and the future of life on earth' (and co-founder of Black Mountains College), by Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason ('On Time and Water'), and by Lisa Merrick-Lawless co-founder of 'Purpose Disrupters' (who has 20 years experience in the language of advertising and communications).

Ian also hears from John Marshall in America, who co-founded 'Potential Energy' - a coalition of creative, analytic and media agencies who want to shift the conversation on climate change. John reveals his international research into the language that really makes us think.

We also share the best wild poems from our call-out in the summer, and road-test an 'eco' sting for radio broadcasts (inspired by 'EcoAudio' - a new certification for greener, sustainable audio productions that is now available for BBC programme-makers).

Producer: Faith Lawrence

Ian McMillan presents a special extended interview with Joyce Carol Oates, one of the most prolific and pre-eminent American writers of the 20th century. Now 85, Oates is the author of 62 novels, 47 short story collections, poetry volumes, plays, essays, and criticism. Her latest book is the unsettling short-story collection 'Zero-Sum'.

Producer: Cecile Wright

Ian McMillan presents a special extended interview with acclaimed Irish novelist, essayist, playwright, and poet Colm Tóibín, who's been described as one of Ireland's finest writers.

Colm Tóibín is the author of eleven novels including Brooklyn, which won the 2009 Costa novel award, and The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; as well as two short story collections. Three times shortlisted for the Booker Prize Tóibín was made the Laureate for Irish Fiction for 2022–2024. In 2022, he published his first collection of poems, Vinegar Hill.

Producer: Cecile Wright

Ian McMillan celebrates what Shakespeare can tell future generations - about animals, sound, performance and language. With actor Paterson Joseph, grime poet and writer Debris Stevenson, Verb regular Kate Fox and Prof Todd Borlick from the University of Huddersfield.

Ian McMillan presents some of the most exciting international poetry and poets - recorded in Leeds at the Contains Strong Language festival 2023. He's joined by Andre Bagoo from Trinidad, Ramya Jirasinghe from Sri Lanka, and by poets from the 'Language is a Queer Thing' project - an international poetry development programme from The Queer Muslim Project and the British Council - including Jay Mitra, Gayathiri Kamalakanthan, Mukahang Limbu, Rachit Sharma, Anureet Watta, and Hafsa Bukhary.

Ian McMillan discusses the act of looking, what it means to write about art and to translate what you see into language, and the relationship between art and life; with American poet Terrance Hayes, Christine Coulson, whose novel One Woman Show is told through museum wall labels, author and art critic Laura Cumming, and Jason Allen-Paisant whose Forward Prize winning collection, Self-Portrait As Othello, explores self-examination through the depiction of the other.

This week The Verb offers you another chance to hear a special extended interview with Zadie Smith. Her audacious first book 'White Teeth', written when she was just 24, was one of the most talked about debut novels of all time. Most of Smith's novels take place in north west London, where she grew up, and which she has described as the location of her imagination, and her heart. In her latest novel 'The Fraud', also set in the area, Smith moves into historical fiction with a story inspired by an extraordinary real life court case.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

First Broadcast 13 Oct 2023

Ian McMillan presents The Verb recorded in front of a live audience at the Contains Strong Language Festival in Leeds with Ian Duhig, Jacob Polley, South African writer and performance poet, Lebogang Mashile, and Kenyan poet, writer and filmmaker Ngwatilo Mawiyoo.

Ian McMillan hosts a special performance edition of The Verb recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC’s Contains Strong Language Festival in Leeds. Featuring poetry from Hannah Silva, Khadijah Ibrahiim, Malika Booker, Cecilia Knapp, Toria Garbutt and Testament.

Live from the ‘Contains Strong Language’ Festival in Leeds, Ian McMillan introduces public poets from around the world, including Simon Armitage, Hanan Issa (the National Poet of Wales), Chris Tse (Poet Laureate of New Zealand) and Titilope Sonuga - Nigerian-Canadian poet and former Laureate of Edmonton. Ian will also hear from the winner of the 2023 Laurel Prize - the international award for nature poetry, set up to recognise and encourage the resurgence of environmental writing – one of Simon Armitage’s public projects as Poet Laureate.

Novels by Irish writers make up a third of this year's Booker longlist for the first time in the prize's history. Ian McMillan explores the boom in Irish writing and the wave of new and experimental voices melding poetry and prose emerging from both the North and South of Ireland. With Elaine Feeney, Martina Evans, James Conor Patterson and Liam Harte, professor of Irish Literature at the University of Manchester.

Ian McMillan presents Radio 3's The Verb from the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. He's joined by poet Clare Shaw whose poetry extols the poetic possibilities of peat bogs and moss; Ben and David Crystal whose new book Everyday Shakespeare offers us a quotation from the bard for every day of the year; Jimmy Andrex offers a meeting place between music and poetry and singer Emily Portman and musician Rob Harbron sing the words of Irish poet Louis MacNeice

A writing and confidence masterclass - Ian McMillan's guests Denise Mina, Kathryn Williams, Ian Humphreys and Len Pennie share their tips and experiences.

How much confidence do you need to write or create out of your comfort zone? What does it take to embark on unfamiliar genres - the historical novel perhaps, starting a podcast or vlog, or writing a lyric poem? And how can the great poet, performer and humorist Ivor Cutler inspire us to write our most authentic material? Is confidence a helpful word for writers?

Ian is joined by one of our most versatile novelists, Denise Mina - who explores the role of certainty in her new novel 'Three Fires', by singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams (who has pubished a novel 'The Ormering Tide' and also presents her own podcast ('Before the Light Goes Out'), by the poet and editor of 'Why I Write Poetry' Ian Humphreys, and by celebrator of Len Pennie, known as Miss Punnypennie - who invites her followers on social media to enjoy 'Scots and sarcasm' and has a poetry book in the pipeline.

Ian McMillan explores different ways into and out of and through the things we write, and discovers new ways of thinking about language and meaning; with poet Nick Thurston who has co curated The Weight of Words, an exhibition on the poetry of sculpture and the sculpture of poetry, fiction writer Alice Jolly whose new collection of stories ‘From Far Around They Saw Us Burn’ examines how everyday interactions can change our lives in new and unpredictable ways, playwright and theatre maker Megan Barker whose novel ‘Kit’ is a long running prose poem, and poet and performer Rommi Smith reads from her new choral work Forever?, a collaborative commission with composer, Roderick Williams. Forever? is a 21st century response to the iconic hymn Amazing Grace and which seeks to redefine its power and status as a song of resilience and resistance.

Forever? With text by Rommi Smith and music by composer Roderick Williams will premiere on July 22 at the IF MIlton Keynes International Festival.

The Weight of Words runs at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds from 7 July – 26 November. You can find out more about the exhibition via this link: henry-moore.org/the-weight-of-words

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

Ian McMillan explores fathers, fathering and time with Nick Laird, Katherine Rundell and Jude Rogers.

Nick Laird's new poetry collection 'Up Late' (Faber) is a powerful account of what it means to think around and through grief, time and fathering, Katherine Rundell's incisive and moving account of the life of the mortality-obsessed poet John Donne (which also takes in his fathering of twelve children) is 'Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne', and Jude Rogers's story of her love of popular music and the role her father played in igniting it is 'The Sound of Being Human' - they join Ian for this Verb on family influence and family influencers.

From blank page to bestseller, how do you write a successful novel? The Verb offers you another chance to join a masterclass in storytelling recorded earlier this year at Hay Festival, with renowned authors Kate Mosse and Philippa Gregory, best known for The Other Boleyn Girl; and Booker Prize-winning novelist Douglas Stuart.

How do you begin, how do you redraft and decide what to take out and what to leave in, what happens when you experiment and play with language to shape-shift and distort the form, how do you decide who is your narrator and uncover your own literary voice, and how do you know when the novel is finished?

Ian McMillan takes us on a deep dive into the craft of writing a novel, from the first marks you make on the paper, to the final draft that ends up on the bookshop shelf.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

First broadcast in June 2023.

Ian McMillan discusses the enduring appeal of the novel and explores how poetry and prose can collide to create a new kind of language; with Jacqueline Crooks, whose debut novel 'Fire Rush' is a tale of music and parties and love and life in late 1970s and 80s London; Liv Little, founder and former CEO of Gal-dem, a sadly now defunct online and print magazine run by women of colour, whose first book 'Rosewater' is an exploration of how it is to live a creative life in London when time and money and history all seem to conspire against you; Lemara Lindsay-Prince, the senior commissioning editor of Merky Books, the publishing house set up by rapper and grime artist Stormzy to nurture under-represented and marginalised writers; and poet, film-maker and dramatist Owen Sheers.

Ian McMillan presents the first in a series of Verb visits to the future, asking whether we need new words, new plots and new genres to help us think about it creatively.

The BBC has signed up to a climate pledge which presents an exciting opportunity for new writing (it is pledging to make sure its visions of the future aren’t simply dystopian ones, to recognise other visions, fair and balanced ones, sustainable and informed by the science ). To explore this opportunity we are first joined by the ecological philosopher and green activist Rupert Read to discuss 'thrutopianism', and by the writer and artist Alistair Gentry who has brought his flying saucer along to the studio.

In the second half of this show we do a deep time dive into the work of one of America’s greatest visionary poets – Jorie Graham - and hear new poetry from her collection 'To 2040' (Carcanet)

BBC Climate Change Pledge https://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/news/climate-content-pledge/

Rupert Read https://rupertread.net/

Alistair Gentry https://alistairgentry.net/performance/british-fusion-2022/

Ritual, seduction, silliness and sacrifice - all this and more in 'The Wicker Man Verb' - marking 50 years of the iconic horror film.

Ian McMillan is joined by one of our best fiction writers -Sarah Hall. Sarah shares a new commission for The Verb imagining Summerisle in 2023.

David Bramwell and Eliza Skelton have been influenced by the film as writers and performers - they give The Verb an insight into how their Sing-A-Long-A-Wickerman events work. David has just published 'The Singalong-A-Wicker-Man Scrapbook' https://www.drbramwell.com/

Folk musician Brian Peters explores the old songs that sit behind the soundtrack, and Verb regular - the poet and performer Kate Fox, goes on a emotional journey with Lord Summerisle, imagining how he might operate in the world of social media influencers, and endless 'wellness' marketing.

Producer: Faith Lawrence

First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in May 2023.

Ian McMillan explores the monsters that haunt our imagination, the monstrous labels that have historically been imposed upon 'the Other', and the modern day monstrosities that provoke our fears and threaten to make monsters of us all.

With Prof Roger Luckhurst who specialises in classic 19th-century Gothic, literature, film, and cultural history; his new book 'Gothic' traces our fascination and representations of the Gothic through history to its place at the very heart of popular culture today, Poet Tom Juniper whose Monstrous poems are a collection from the point of view of sundry folkloric creatures, conceptual poet and artist Ira Lightman who has written a specially commissioned poem on the theme of the Monstrous, and composer Sarah Angliss whose new opera 'Giant' tells the story of the 18th century “Irish giant” Charles Byrne, a man whose corpse was stolen to order and put on public display.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

Ian McMillan revisits the UK’s biggest poetry and performance festival for new writing: BBC Contains Strong Language in Leeds to present a gathering of poets from all over the world. The World in Words event brought together poets from countries in Africa, as well as New Zealand, the Caribbean and Sri Lanka.

Ian McMillan celebrates spectral spaces, the pulse of the body, and the power of repetition, in a Verb which showcases emerging talent - new sound designers from the Sound First scheme (a collaboration between BBC Contains Strong Language and Radio 3). Ian is joined by the songwriter, producer and sound designer Benbrick, the poet, playwright and performer Hannah Silva, and Sound First participant Noah Lawson, to explore what sound design can bring to poems, and what sounds are buried in poems themselves. The poems in this show - which the Sound First sound designers used as the basis for their work - were all commissioned for The Verb's 'Something New' series, marking 100 years of poetry on the BBC.

Sound First work featured: Listening to Tennyson - poem by Rachael Boast, sound designer Noah Lawson Companion Piece - poem by Glyn Maxwell, sound designer Joe Chesterman The Truth is Never Too Old - poem by Roy McFarlane, sound designer Emily Kiely

This Verb could change the way you think about dreams, it might change your perception of your own doctor, or your perception of those who become extremists. That's because the writers who join Ian McMillan this week all interviewed people to enrich the texture of their work, and the concepts at the heart of it.

Steven Moffat is a writer and television producer - celebrated for his writing on Doctor Who. He is joined on the programme by Dr Peter Dong (Peter runs a research programme in particle physics at the Large Hadron Collider) to explore a story called 'Going Dark' - which Steven wrote for the collection 'Collision' published by Comma Press. 'Collision' was edited by scientists Rob Appleby and Connie Potter - and brought together a number of writers who were keen to produce stories inspired by research linked to the CERN laboratory, liaising with scientists working on different projects.

Polly Morland's 'A Fortunate Woman' (Picador) has been described as a 'compelling, thoughtful and insightful look at the life and work of a country doctor'. Partly inspired by John Berger's book focusing on a doctor in the same valley ( published in 1967) - Polly spent many hours walking and talking with the current doctor and listening to local people to produce an intimate and detailed picture of the importance of GPs' capacity for telling and holding stories.

Arji Manuelpillai's new poetry collection is 'Improvised Explosive Device' (Penned in the Margins) and is full of inventive and powerful metaphors that help us understand violence, extremism and compassion. He interviewed those affected by extremism to inform his poems, and to understand the political and personal impact of language.

Ian McMillan explores funny fiction by women with Helen Lederer, the writer and comedian (and now creator of the 'Comedy Women In Print: Book Prize'), author of Big Girl, Small Town and The Factory Girls, researcher and performer Dr Naomi Paxton who has written about the use of comedy as a political took in the Women's Suffrage movement and comedian Joanna Neary, who's Brief Encounters-inspired character Celia Jesson tries her hand at comedy.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

For our watery and wild Verb - which flows though the water of chalk streams, the ocean, a baby's bath water, and birth waters - Ian McMillan is joined by Ruth Padel, Vik Sharma, Caroline Bergvall and Will Burns. Ruth and Vik share their collaboration '24 Splashes of Denial' which combines an apprehension of loss with vast and delicate beauty, Will Burns reads a new commission for The Verb on his experience of chalk streams (a globally rare and 'gin-clear' habitat) in Buckinghamshire, and Caroline Bergvall opens a door in our watery imagination, tracing the idea of refuge in extracts from her project 'Nattsong'.

Wild Poetry 'Call-out' !

From Ian McMillan: "As part of the BBC’s celebration of our wild isles, we thought we’d tap into the deep waters of the Verb listeners’ collective and individual imaginations. We want to see your poems that use the idea of wildness as their seed – they could be as short as a haiku – or as long as twenty lines – that’s the limit. We're particularly interested in poems that take the word ‘wild’ itself on a journey. Email your poems to Theverb@bbc.co.uk. Although we won’t be able to respond to each poem, together they’ll give us a national snapshot - a moment in wild time that we’ll explore later in the year; we’ll share some of your poems on-air. Send us your poems by the 23rd of June."

Ian McMillan is joined by poets Michael Symmons Roberts, Kate Fox, Jacob Polley and sound designer Amanda Priestley to celebrate the rich variety of new poetry commissions written for the BBC's centenary year. The show includes work from the Sound First scheme (Radio 3 and BBC Contains Strong Language working together to find the best emerging sound design talent in the UK) - three poems with evocative sound design. Also, we share the very last commission in our Something New series, by Sinéad Morrisey - called Charm.

Sound First work featured:

Speaker - poem by Jacob Polley, sound designer Nicky Elson Atlas - poem by Joelle Taylor, sound designer Amanda Priestley Root Your Words in the Earth - poem by Malika Booker, sound designer Louis Blatherwick

This week Testament - poet, theatre-maker and world-record-breaking human beatboxer, explores the meaning and power of the sounds we make between words, including sighing and laughing - with spoken word artist and writer Polar Bear (Steven Camden) , 'Wild' author Jay Griffiths, and poets Shirley May and John McAuliffe.

Polar Bear presents a brand new commission for our series celebrating the BBC's centenary ('Something Old, Something New') which includes the sounds of his childhood home, John McAuliffe shares poems of deep sighs and his work inspired by the experiences of organ donors and recipients, Jay Griffiths lets us into the way our fellow creatures take pleasure in sound and the importance of wild sound to humans, and Shirley May explores the importance of breath in her work, and the role of the body in performance - something she teaches as artistic director of 'Young Identity' - the youth spoken word collective.

What's stopping us telling the stories of women's inner lives, or listening to them, especially once they become mothers, or are over forty? Actresses discover there are far fewer roles once they're no longer seen as young; whilst middle-aged and older women's lives are conflated, as if they are having exactly the same experiences.

Ian McMillan is joined by Victoria Smith, author of 'Hags: the demonisation of middle-aged women' , by poet Patrick McGuinness (sharing poems from his forthcoming collection 'Blood Feather') by Jenny Lewis, author of 'Gilgamesh Retold' (her retellings of Mesopotamian myth reveal a female inn-keeper at the edge of the world) , and by folk legends Marry Waterson and Lisa Knapp (performing as 'Hack Poets Guild ) who share haunting songs of silenced and traduced women.

We also hear our latest BBC Centenary commission - this week it's 'Deep Listening' by Emily Berry.

Secret names, original names, nicknames, invented names for characters - this Verb explores the intimacy of naming, the sound of names, and the way they can influence character.

Ian is joined by the former Makar (National Poet of Scotland) Jackie Kay, with a brand new commission for The Verb - by Liz Berry, who shares poems about an ancestor called Eliza from her new collection 'Home Child' - and by Christopher Reid with explorations of childhood (and an imaginary character called Theodore Faddlefoot) all taken from his collection 'Toys/Tricks/Traps' - just published.

Ian McMillan celebrates 100 years of BBC Radio Drama with brand new commissions - from writers Alex Riddle, Georgia Affonso. Tim Barrow, and the poet Michael Symmons Roberts. This is a homage to what Ian describes as a form which feels 'as new as cinema and as old as a whispered story in a dark cave in winter', with tales of mysterious islands and time travel, the intimacy of the optometrist's gaze, and the power of friendship. Michael Symmons Roberts's poem is a commission for our 'Something Old, Something New' series, and evokes a frozen Atlantic - its sound and its shiver.

Ian McMillan enjoys last lines in poetry, song, memoir, and novels - and his guests introduce him to different varieties of endings: the trap door, the rug-pull, the fade and many more. Stuart Maconie, writer and broadcaster, is Ian's guide to the bathetic and sometimes dramatic ends to be found in popular song - and explores an ending created by the Cornish poet Charles Causley. Caroline Bird reads a sonnet from her poetry collection 'The Air Year' and reveals the draft that helped her reach the poem and its ending, and fellow poet Sinéad Morrissey shares a work-in-progress inspired by endings: 'Seeing Red', her memoir of growing up in a Communist family in Northern Ireland.

Producer: Faith Lawrence

The Verb is lured this week into seductive places: poet Luke Wright presents a show full of light, cool water, shadows on stone, and the over-reliance on place-names (by lyricists). His guests are the poet Helen Mort (who shares poems of swimming and Lincolnshire from her collection 'The Illustrated Woman'), by the cartoonist and writer Martin Rowson who tries to persuade Luke that his passion for the Evelyn Waugh novel 'Brideshead Revisited' is misplaced - by Kate Fox (Verb regular and stand-up poet) who discovers seduction nirvana in an unlikely popular song, and by Anita Sethi (author of 'I Belong Here' ) who shares her love of Manchester's Oxford Road, and Manchester Museum where she is writer-in-residence.

Our 'Something New' poem (celebrating 100 years of the BBC) is by Jean Sprackland, and our 'Something Old' poem is 'Sea Fever' by John Masefield.

Ian McMillan presents again next week - exploring the power and pleasure of last lines.

What do we remember about childhood? And how do we write about it, without feeling trapped in the past? Ian McMillan talks to poet Don Paterson about music as a mnemonic tool, his youthful attraction to the art of origami, and the perils of confectionary. He talks to writer Sally Bayley about her sequence of books that capture the language fragments and stories from a childhood where facts were 'thin on the ground' - and about the part Shakespeare and his characters play in her latest book 'No Boys Play Here'. And Donovan McAbee, professor and poet, also joins Ian to explore the influence of childhood experiences on the work of Serbian-born poet Charles Simic - who became Poet Laureate of the US (writing in his fourth language), and died earlier this year. We also hear a poem from the BBC archive - Sylvia Plath's 'Purdah'.

Ian McMillan and his guests explore writing and cityscapes - asking how does architecture make us think about the writing process, and how do language and cities refresh each other – or use each other?

Joining Ian are the novelist Jenny Colgan on the 'City of Invention' (which the late novelist Fay Weldon uses to describe literature in her book 'Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen'), by skateboarder and poet Olly Todd on his new collection 'Out for Air', by the writer and novelist Reinier de Graaf, who explores the corporate language of architecture (and the need for all new buildings to be 'officially amazing'), and the poet Geraldine Monk, who shares a brand new commission - part of our BBC centenary series 'Something Old, Something New'.

On The Verb this week join Ian McMillan for a celebration of remarkable poets and poetry as he presents readings from all the collections shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. The prize is awarded annually by the T.S. Eliot Foundation for the best collection of the year and the winner receives £25,000. Anthony Joseph was declared this year's winner by the judges for his 'luminous' collection Sonnets for Albert.

Alongside readings from the poets themselves, Ian reflects how their work reverberates with the here and now, refreshing the language and giving us maps and signposts for these turbulent times.

The shortlisted poets featured along with Anthony Joseph are Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Philip Gross, Denise Saul, Yomi Sode, Mark Pajak, Jemma Borg, James Conor Patterson, Zaffar Kunial and Fiona Benson.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

This week on the Verb we're taking in the air, and letting it out again as we explore how breath shapes and moulds the poetic line and stanza, how it can breathe life into a story and how breathing itself can be a kind of narrative. Ian McMillan is joined by the poet Stephen Watts whose poems pulse and flow with the rhythm of breath, novelist Emma Carroll whose book The Tale of Truthwater Lake breathes life into the future and revives the past, James Nestor a journalist and free diver who teaches us how to survive with and without breathing and poet Daisy Lafarge whose collection Life Without Air was shortlisted for the TS Eliot prize.

This edition of The Verb is another chance to hear an extended interview with the prize winning novelist Hilary Mantel who died last year. The programme looks at her life in writing, from her struggle to publish the first book she ever wrote, the historical epic A Place of Greater Safety to the phenomenal success of her Thomas Cromwell books Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, both of which won the Booker Prize. We learn about the themes which run through all her work: the pursuit of power, fame and how it changes us, the collective versus the individual voice, and ghosts (which for Mantel are choices not made, both in her life and in her writing). She sheds light on her relationship with Thomas Cromwell, how she avoids pastiche when writing historical dialogue, and explains how working on the RSC adaptations of her Thomas Cromwell books influenced the final book in the trilogy, ‘The Mirror and The Light’ which at the time of recording was yet to be published. Hilary Mantel published her first novel Every Day is Mother’s Day in 1985. She won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize for Fludd, and the Hawthornden Prize for An Experiment in Love. Her memoir, Giving Up the Ghost won the MIND Book of the Year award. Mantel is the first British writer to win the Booker Prize twice.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Jessica Treen

Join Ian McMillan for a festive recording of The Verb, in which we'll encounter a parade of imaginary creatures conjured through poems and songs and stories brought by his guests. The poet and performer John Hegley has written us a brand new poem, YA superstar Melvin Burgess tells us about his debut adult novel ‘Loki’, poet and playwright Testament will be performing a piece from his show ‘Blake Remixed’ fusing hip-hop with the iconic poetry of William Blake and folk singer Bella Hardy who'll be talking about her return to traditional ballads and of course singing a song or two.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

Ian McMillan explores the ghostly presences and phantoms of predecessors, literary or not, which hover in and around all writing. In poetry and stories how do we seek through the spectres of time and memory to conjure invocations of people lost to us, and to understand the importance of human connections through time and space? With David Constantine, Denise Riley, Andrew Taylor and Clare Shaw. David Constantine's new book Rivers of the Unspoilt World interweaves fictional characters and events with the real to create new ways of seeing and connecting our past, present and possible futures. Denise Riley's latest collection Lurex is a meditation on the timelessness of time, in which the past is never really past but is both then and now, haunting, our memories and our futures. Andrew Taylor's collection Northangerland conjures the ghost of Bramwell Bronte to rewrite his poetry for the modern reader. Clare Shaw's Towards A General Theory of Love seeks to summon the Spirit of those we have loved and lost.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

This week we examine the sometimes painful process of drafting and redrafting. We're joined by Denise Mina, who appeared on the Verb in 2019 to share her feelings towards a book she had only just started. What became of it? Listen to find out.

Toby Litt's current novel is 'A Writer's Diary'. Initially published in the form of daily emails to subscribers, the lines between fact and fiction appear to blur with every email. How is a work like this drafted? Paul Tran says redrafting of his poems is also a redrafting and a rebuilding of the self in the wake of trauma or extremity. For Singer-songwriter and folk historian Polly Paulusma it is through the process of drafting that ideas and images that first appear buried bubble up to the surface,

And our 'Something New' poem this week comes from Costa Award-winning poet Hannah Lowe

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

On The Verb this week we're raising the curtain on playwriting. Ian McMillan is joined by four playwrights; Winsome Pinnock whose recent work includes The Principles of Cartography and Rockets and Blue Lights; by Liz Lochhead, whose writing ranges widely over playwriting and poetry and who has written for the National Theatre of Scotland, Steve Waters who works for stage, radio and screen and Keisha Thompson Director and CEO of Contact Theatre in Manchester.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

Celebrate 100 years of poetry on the BBC with Ian McMillan's cabaret of the word.

The Verb presents brand new poetry especially commissioned for the centenary, and explores the corporation's relationship with poetry - including highlights from the archive. With poets Paul Farley and Hannah Silva and the Director of The Poetry Society Judith Palmer.

How or what is the voice of the narrator, and what happens in a story when the narrator proves to be unreliable? Booker Prize winner Damon Glagut's novel The Promise toys with the idea of the narrator as different people at different times disorientating the reader and exposing the duplicity of the novel, poet Daniel's latest collection Single Window explores the 'I' in the poem and the poet, Sheen Patel's debut novel I Am A Fan is about an obsessed young woman and the unreliability of the internet and Prof. Mike Sharples is the author of Story Machines: How Computers Have Become Creative Writers.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

This week The Verb is doing some straight talking and celebrating verbatim and everyday speech with the novelist Will Ashon whose book The Passengers is a collection of voices telling their own stories; the performance artist Scottee whose new podcast After The Tone listens to so-called ordinary people in all their extraordinary glory; the poet Anna Robinson whose work always listens hard to the way people sound; and Verb regular the poet and performer Kate Fox brings some drama to how we speak.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

When we think of Liberation Narratives we perhaps most often mean slave or revolution narratives but they can be profoundly personal expressions of freedom as well as stories of huge geopolitical or historical changes. Ian McMillan considers Liberation Narratives with American poet Carl Philips, poet, performer and singer Rommi Smith, poet Yomi Sode and folk singer-songwriter and activist Grace Petrie. Carl Philips' latest book 'Then the War', a collection of new and selected poems is an exploration of self discovery and the revolutionary power of tenderness and human connection. During a stint as poet in residence at Dove Cottage, Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, Rommi Smith sought new escapes in his sonnets. Yomi Sode's debut collection 'Manorism' is an examination of the lives of Black British men and boys and the liberating impact of having a voice. Grace Petrie's politically charged protest music challenges us to envisage and demand a kinder world than the one we live in.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

This week in tribute to the poet, performer, playwright and activist Benjamin Zephaniah who has died aged 65, Ian McMillan presents another chance to hear a special extended interview with him. Benjamin began publishing and performing his work for adults and children in the early 1980s, and had recently committed his life to print in his autobiography The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah. The programme was recorded last year in front of a live audience at the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival in Benjamin's home city of Birmingham.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

First broadcast 14 Oct 2022

The Verb this week is abundant with the language of Autumn and fruitfulness as Ian Mcmillan and his guests explore writing about the season and harvest festivals; past, present and future. Rebecca May Johnson is the author of 'Small Fires: An Epic in the Kitchen'. In this playful memoir she rewrites the kitchen as a vital source of knowledge and revelation. A novelist and nature writer, everything Melissa Harrison writes is attuned to the seasons and for Melissa, autumn is a particularly poignant time of year when life and death rub up against each other. Amy Jeffs explores the stories and myths that make up Britain in her books 'Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain' and 'Storyland', here she explains how harvest traditions have fed into our folk tales. And our 'Something New' poem, part of our series celebrating 100 years of the relationship between the BBC and poetry comes this week from Joelle Taylor

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

This week on The Verb we're celebrating the birthday of Apples and Snakes, who've been pioneering spoken word poetry for 40 years. Ian McMillan is joined onstage at the BBC Contains Strong Language Festival in Birmingham by six poets who've been involved with Apples and Snakes over the years; Casey Bailey, the current Poet Laureate of Birmingham, award-winning poet Kayo Chingonyi, Roy McFarlane, Muneera Pilgrim and Malika Booker, co-founder of the writer's collective Malika's Kitchen.

Presented by Ian McMillan Producer Cecile Wright

Recorded at the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival in Birmingham, Ian showcases verse that has arisen from two collaborative projects: Across Borders and Language Is a Queer Thing.

Dzifa Benson's explores the phenomenon of the Ghanaian drinking name which is part of her Ewe heritage, and we ask our poets to come up with their own.

Alvin Pang gives us his insight into a location which was formative in the development of poetry in Singapore in the poem Boat Quay, and Fred D'Aguiar offers us two readings as well as insights into his memoir, Year of Plagues.

Amani Saeed and Megha Harish discuss the challenges and intricacies of collaboration, and Nick Makoha considers the march of history with one of the poems that came from his collaboration - Primer.

Across Borders and Language Is a Queer Thing were developed in partnership with the Verve Poetry Festival, the British Council and the Queer Muslim Project.

The first Verb of a new season, recorded in front of an audience at the Contains Strong Language Festival of poetry and performance at the Hippodrome in Birmingham.

We have brand new work from the legendary dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson and we're also joined by two of this year's CSL poets; Romalyn Ante, author of 'Anti-Emetic for Homesickness', and Isabelle Baafi, who won a Somerset Maugham award for her debut pamplet Ripe. Linda France is one of the shortlisted poets for this year's Laurel Prize for the best collection of nature or environmental poetry, and our 'Something New' comes from Luke Kennard.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Faith Lawrence

It's the last Verb before we break up for the summer term, so we're having an end of term games day.

Games Writer Rhianna Pratchett has worked across many games in a 20 year career. Some are big studio titles like Tomb Raider, where she was brought in to update the character of Lara Croft for a new generation, and others are indie games like Sketchbook Games’ ‘The Lost Words’, a game that Rhianna was involved in from early development and which was inspired by her own personal experiences of grief.

Philip Terry, poet and editor of 'The Penguin Book of Oulipo' lets us into the world of avant-garde language games. It’s Oulipo vs the Surrealists…get your Exquisite Corpse at the ready. And verb regular Ira Lightman embraces the chaos and creates poetry with the roll of a dice. He’s built our very own Verb board game, Snakes and Ladders and Words!

We also look ahead to the 'Sound of Gaming' Prom, the very first prom to centre on Computer games music with Sound of Gaming presenter Louise Blain, who also gives us an insight into the narrative possibilities computer games can offer us.

Our 'Something New' this week comes from poet Will Harris. and our Something Old Archive recording is Adrian Henri reading ‘She Loves me’

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Jessica Treen

Michael Longley is one of Northern Ireland's foremost contemporary poets. His debut collection, 'No Continuing City', was published to acclaim in 1969 and since then he has published many more collections of verse, including 'Gorse Fires', which won the Whitbread Prize, and 'The Weather in Japan', which won the T.S. Eliot prize and the Hawthornden Prize.

His major themes are war, nature and love. Perhaps his best-known poem is 'Ceasefire', which, like many of his poems, was inspired by The Iliad and was first published in the Irish Times in 1994 thr week the ceasefire was announced. Michael lives in Belfast, but spends much of his time in Carrigskeewaun, which provides the backdrop for many of his nature poems. But for Michael, the love poem is the most important. If poetry is a wheel, as he says, 'The hub of the wheel is love.'

Ian visits Michael at home in Belfast for a conversation that ranges over a career in poetry that spans over 50 years. Michael published 'The Candlelight Master' in 2020 and later this year will see publication of his latest collection 'The Slain Birds'. Together they talk about form, trees, writer's block, the passing of time and the joy of grandchildren.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Jessica Treen

Ian McMillan explores the language, poetry and perceptions of old age with Fleur Adcock who has been writing poetry for seven decades, comedian Pope Lonergan who has written a memoir of his ten years working in a care home, and psychotherapist Jane Campbell who at the age of 80 is publishing her debut collection of short stories this month. And in our Something Old Something New series celebrating 100 years of poetry on the BBC we hear an archive poem from Michael Longley, and a new commission from Rachael Boast, inspired by hearing an 1890 recording of Tennyson reading The Charge of the Light Brigade.

Producer: Ruth Thomson

Ian McMillan explores the language and complexities of male friendship with poet Michael Pederson whose book Boy Friends is 'a paean to all the gorgeous male friendships that have transformed his life', comedian Max Dickins who proposed to his girlfriend then realised he had no-one to be his best man, and film expert Adam Scovell who explores on-screen relationships from the buddy movie to the bromance. And poet Daljit Nagra reads his specially commissioned work Air for our Something Old Something New feature, celebrating 100 years of poetry on the BBC.

Producer: Ruth Thomson

Adelle Stripe's Ten Thousand Apologies: Fat White Family and the Miracle of Failure charts the gripping chaos and self-sabotage of a classic " drug band with a rock problem". She shares something in common with all our guests this week, who all stand at the crossroads of words and music. Her book describes a band who while plumbing the depths of personal behaviour and let's be honest - personal hygiene - maintain a strangely pure artistic vision.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon has also been trying to bottle the lightning of musical creativity on the page. He's edited and annotated a comprehensive collection of Sir Paul McCartney's lyrics. Paul explains how to look anew at songs we know so well and considers a talent that the best songwriters and poets often share: mimicry.

Malika Booker reads a specially commissioned poem in our Something Old, Something New section, taking as her inspiration a line from The Verb Manifesto. From the archive, we hear Tony Harrison's Them and Uz.

Anthony Joseph has been on a quest to learn more about a father he describes as largely absent. The result is "Sonnets for Albert", which explores the sonnet form yet infuses it with calypso and the natural delivery of his father's voice. Anthony performs his poem "Rings" for us.

And Edmund Finnis tells us about Out of the Dawn's Mind, currently touring with the Soprano Ruby Hughes. He describes the challenge, not of capturing music on the page, but of travelling in the other direction, and bringing five poems of Alice Oswald from the page to musical life.

Presented by Ian McMillan Produced by Kevin Core

In the second of two programmes recorded in front of an audience at this year's Hay Festival, Ian McMillan is joined by Jennifer Egan, Gurnaik Johal and Allie Esiri.

Jennifer Egan won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for her novel 'A Visit from the Goon Squad', she has just published a companion novel, 'The Candy House'. Gurnaik Johal's debut short story collection is 'We Move', a group of tales that chart multiple generations of immigrants in West London.

Allie Esiri is an award-winning anthologist and curator and host of live poetry events. She has edited the best-selling poetry anthologies Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year, A Poem for Every Day of the Year and A Poem for Every Night of the Year.

Our 'Something Old, Something New' commission is from Liz Berry, author of Black Country and The Republic of Motherhood.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Jessica Treen

Ian McMillan is always at home in front of a crowd, and in this programme, recorded at Hay Festival, he is joined by some of our most exciting writers, performers and poets to explore the idea of homeliness - literal or metaphorical and to ask if writing can be a kind of home.

His guests are: the poet Lemn Sissay, whose latest book, for children, is a celebration of curiosity and belonging; by Monica Ali, who casts her eye across family matters in her new novel 'Love Marriage'; by Daniel Morden - a consummate storyteller and performer, acquainted with all the myths of belonging; and by Tishani Doshi, whose poetry and prose is alert to the possibilities of a home - in the poem or in the body.

Also in the programme - a brand new poetry commission by Pascale Petit, winner of the inaugural Laurel Prize for nature poetry - written especially for the BBC's centenary, part of our 'Something Old, Something New' series, and you can also hear a poem from the archive by Gwyneth Lewis - former National Poet of Wales.

Presented by Ian McMillan, The Verb, Radio 3’s showcase for the best in new poetry, writing and performance, hosts a special programme recorded in The Queen’s Library at Windsor Castle. The Poet Laureate Simon Armitage will perform a new work for the occasion, and we’ll explore rare poetic gems from the collection – annotated editions gifted to the library by his Laureate predecessors Wordsworth and Tennyson. Ian will discuss the collection with the Royal Librarian, Stella Panayotova

We are also joined by Grace Nichols, recipient of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2021 and the Young People's Laureate for London, Theresa Lola, linking verse past and present in an intimate setting with an astonishing history.

Produced by Kevin Core and Jessica Treen

This week Ian McMillan and his guests write to uncover previously hidden worlds and consider how to use language to hide in plain sight...

Mick Herron is the author of the 'Slough House; series of spy thrillers about a group of discarded and overlooked M15 agents. The first book in the series, Slow Horses has been adapted for TV starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, and he has just published the eighth instalment, Bad Actors.

Kayo Chingonyi discusses the Black British poetry anthology he has edited; More Fiya, a sequel to the seminal 1998 collection The Fire People, edited by Lemn Sissay. Kayo Chingonyi is a poetry editor at Bloomsbury. He won the Dylan Thomas prize for his debut poetry collection Kumukanda, and his most recent collection A Blood Condition was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the T.S. Eliot Prize, and the Costa Poetry Award.

Hannah Lowe won the Costa Book Award for her poetry collection 'The Kids'. In her chapbook Old Friends, Hannah walks the streets of Limehouse in search of traces of London's first Chinatown.

Our 'Something Old, Something New commission this week comes from Sarah Howe, whose debut collection 'Loop of Jade' won the TS Eliot prize.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Jessica Treen

Ian McMillan's guests Emma Smith, Naush Sabah and Gerry Cambridge celebrate books and pens - and we hear a new BBC centenary commission from Imtiaz Dharker.

Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford, and her new book is called 'Portable Magic - A History of Books and their Readers'. Emma explains why books are like bodies, and explores the power of the inscription.

Gerry Cambridge is a poet and essayist, editor of The Dark Horse transatlantic journal - and a lover of fountain pens. Naush Sabah is a poet, with a collection called 'Litanies' now out with Guillemot Press, and runs Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal; Naush also loves fountain pens. For The Verb they agreed to create a poem together - exploring the particular resonance, and experience of writing in ink.

At the end of the programme you can hear a brand new poetry commission from Imtiaz Dharker, one of our most celebrated poets, and an acclaimed artist and film-maker; part of our series marking the BBC's hundred year relationship with poets and poetry.

Ian talks to Maggie Gee about her new novel The Red Children. It's a fascinating take on migration which mixes humour with magic - and she tells us why she sought to avoid simplistic villains in a story that so often makes the headlines. Carmen Marcus tells us about her poetry collection and podcast the Catch and its distinctly personal link to the sea. She explains how the discovery of a letter from her father set her on a course to understand the changing fishing communities of her childhood home Redcar. And a maritime classic - we assess a defining keystone of the American imagination, that unforgettable story of a denizen of the deep pitted against man's hubris - Free Willy. Whoops - Moby Dick, sorry. Professor Hester Blum of Penn State University is editing the new edition and she explains why it's weighty reputation can undermine its extraordinary playfulness. And comedy writer Madeleine Brettingham stands at the shoreline and considers if a house at the beach will automatically make her enigmatic and interesting.

Presented by Ian McMillan. Produced by Kevin Core

Ian McMillan is joined by poet Lucy Mercer whose latest collection is inspired by 16th-century emblems, behavioural scientist Nick Chater whose book The Language Game explores the development of language and conversation, debut novelist Tice Cin whose book Keeping the House tells the story of a Turkish Cypriot family in north London, and poet Glyn Maxwell with a newly commissioned work.

Ian McMillan's cabaret of the word, featuring the best poetry, new writing and performance

In 2002 a new radio programme was born. It was almost called 'Saturday Speakeasy', but Radio 3 finally settled on 'The Verb'. This is our twentieth anniversary programme, so as you might expect it's packed with energetic language-play, poetry, and prose, and with five new commissions, as we reflect on the ways in which writing and performance have changed in the last two decades, and ask what might happen over the next twenty years.

Ian's guests are poets Kate Fox, Malika Booker, Ira Lightman, Luke Wright, Cia Mangat (who was born the same year as The Verb), and novelist Toby Litt. We also present a piece of mystery audio which stars the award-winning poet Joelle Taylor.

As if that's not enough for one week, in this episode we launch a brand new recurring feature called 'Something Old, Something New' celebrating the BBC's role in commissioning and broadcasting poetry over the last hundred years. In each programme over the next year we'll be sharing a remarkable poem from the archive, and a contemporary poet will present a new commission. This week you can hear the Irish icon and public poet W.B.Yeats reading his poem 'Song of the Old Mother' in 1935, and our contemporary poet is Luke Wright; he reads a poem called 'Covehithe Beach'.

The Verb, Ian McMillan's weekly foray into writing and language examines the appeal of risk and chance. Risk is inherent to writing every time you put words on paper; whether it's risk in the use of form, or language, or subject matter. It's the risk a writer takes when they expose their own lives or the lives of others in their writing. Booker prize winning author DBC Pierre talks about his latest book 'Big Snake, Little Snake: An Inquiry into Gambling and Life'; Hannah Silva on the unpredictability of collaborating with an A-I algorithm for her latest play; poet and novelist Helen Mort, who's always been drawn to the thrill and risk of rock climbing, examines how the world views women who aren't afraid to take risks in her new book 'A Line Above the Sky' and poet Will Harris examines the role of the chance encounter in literature.

Producer: Cecile Wright

The Equinox is a time of change, and at a special recording for Radio 3's After Dark Festival, The Verb's master of metamorphosis Ian McMillan presents a plethora of poets from Sage Gateshead. Our contribution to this major new live music festival, it's a feast of contemporary, classical and experimental music too and you can find out more searching "After Dark Festival" in BBC Sounds.

We'll have live performances from Mike Garry bringing a flavour of Manchester to the North East and we'll also be joined by local lad Rowan McCabe - who described his "door-to-door" poetry service as "like the Avon lady but with rhymes." And we'll have a performance from the ever eclectic Kate Fox as well as John Challis and Tahmina Ali.

If you like your poetry live and loud The Verb at the After Dark Festival has got you covered.

Presented by Ian McMillan Produced by Kevin Core

The special bond of the mother and daughter - and its complexities - are up for discussion this week.

Radio 3's regular writing programme hears about the concept of being "parentified" from Warsan Shire in her new collection examining the experience of displacement endured by her family.

And Ruth Padel joins us to talk about Daughters of the Labyrinth, a novel which sees central character Ri investigate a secret history. Ruth also takes us through the Cretan performance poem the Mantinades, and even gives us a rendition. Think beautiful, ancient Cretan rap battle...

And Hollie McNish reads us her poem Sweet Separation about the pangs felt when a daughter begins the process of developing her independence. Hollie discusses the somehow inadequate terminology of motherhood and how we consider, or rather reject, the postpartum female body.

And following the death of beloved children's author and illustrator Shirley Hughes, Lissa Evans describes an artist with a unique ability to capture the small details of children's lives and encompass them in kindness. She discusses how Shirley's work made a difference to her non-traditional family, and how adopting daughters led to an interest in the experience of wartime evacuees. Her latest book is V for Victory.

Presented by Ian McMillan. Produced by Kevin Core.

On The Verb this week Ian McMillan is up for a fight.

We're delving into the world of the adversary. He'll be talking to Man Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James about Moon Witch, Spider King the second book in his Dark Star Trilogy, asking why the sequel explores the psychology of a witch - a character more generally associated with evil deeds than inner motivations.

Hannah Lowe, fresh from a Costa Book of the Year win for her collection The Kids, will be exploring the adversarial side of the classroom, and unveils a special commission for The Verb. Unbuckled takes us into the world of an adversarial romantic relationship - with sad echoes of the Cinderella story.

And when it comes to the villain of the piece - how can you top Satan himself? The name means "adversary" in Hebrew. So we're about get Satanic with Joe Moshenska. He's published a new book, Making Darkness Light, The Lives and Times of John Milton. He'll be explaining how the poet's compelling, smooth-talking creation became the template for a new type of antihero. Look no further than Paradise Lost for your embryonic Tony Sopranos and Walter Whites.

And you can't talk adversaries in literature without touching on crime. Jane Casey's new novel is called The Killing Kind. When her life is threatened defence barrister Ingrid turns to a sinister stalker she helped to exonerate for help. Where does a classic Faustian deal with the devil come in the world of adversarial writing - and how much should we root for the bad guy?

Presented by Ian McMillan Produced by Kevin Core

Ian McMillan goes to the extremes this week to explore writing from the edges of time and place with Shetland based poet Jen Hadfield, John Henry Falle aka The Story Beast, Penelope Shuttle who's latest poetry collection explores Lyonesse, a lost and mythical land that once formed the land's end of Cornwall and Jon Ransom who's debut novel is a visceral and poetic story set in the wide expanses of Norfolk.

The Verb, Ian McMillan's regular foray into the world of language and literature, explores how travel writing, poetry and translation can ferry the reader across language, culture and time with Colm Tóibín on his first poetry collection Vinegar Hill; travel writer Sara Wheeler; Nandini Das, whose special interest is cross-cultural encounters and poet and translator Peter Robinson.

This week on The Verb, Ian McMillan and his guests are searching their hearts to explore writing about couples and relationships and the secrets its language might reveal. With Tessa Hadley on her new novel 'Free Love', poet Rommi Smith on writing the stories of people and places across time, inspired by images found in an overlooked photo archive, comedian Isy Suttie and Alex Hyde, whose debut novel follows the overlapping lives of two women called Violet.

‘What Kind of Times Are These?’ is the title of a poem by the brilliant American poet Adrienne Rich whose work covered many turbulent years. What kind of times indeed? Ian McMillan is asking his guests this week to provide their poetic answer to this question. With specially commissioned work from both the winner of this year's TS Eliot poetry prize, Joelle Taylor, and the writer, actor and Twitter Queen Miranda Keeling. Kiri Pritchard-McLean brings her comedic response to our question and award winning poet Emily Berry talks about her new collection Unexhausted Time which re-shapes and re-moulds our fragmented and fractured age.

Poet Fiona Sampson, conductor Alice Farnham, and broadcaster Tom Service join Ian McMillan to explore the maths, metaphors and musical terms that make up the language of conducting. Plus comedy writer Jack Bernhardt takes a sideways look at Hollywood's take on the tortured genius.

Ian McMillan presents poets reading from all the collections shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize, awarded by the T.S. Eliot Foundation for the best collection of the past year, and gives his take on the year in poetry.

This is a special edition of the show recorded at the annual prize reading at the Royal Festival Hall in London (hosted by Ian) a day before the announcement of the winner - Joelle Taylor.

Ian celebrates the impact and achievement of Joelle's collection 'C+nto' and of the other shortlisted collections.

Poets featured: Jack Underwood Hannah Lowe Daniel Sluman Kevin Young Victoria Kennefick Ruth Padel reading the work of Selima Hill Raymond Antrobus Kayo Chingonyi Michael Symmons Roberts Joelle Taylor

Ian McMillan explores the language and imagery of sea myths and folklore from Mermaids and Selkies to Shapeshifters and other mysterious sea creatures, both real and imagined.

Ian's guests include the poet Steve Ely whose book The European Eel is an epic poetic odyssey following the imagined journey of a single eel from the Sargasso Sea to the rivers of Europe, and back to its birthplace, to mate and die, Robin Robertson whose new collection Grimoire is a series of retellings and imaginings of Scottish folktales that are often brutal, but with a strange beauty, the film maker Alastair Cole who takes us into the Gaelic language and its stories of the tide and waves, and Imogen Hermes Gowar whose novel The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, set in 18th-century London, explores the destructive sexual power of the mermaid, combining myth and legend with the harsh realities of the past.

Producer: Cecile Wright