Welcome to Hotel Verb. Checking in with Ian McMillan this week are novelist Eimear McBride. Eimear won the Goldsmiths Prize and the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction for her debut novel 'A Girl is A Half-Formed Thing'. Since then, she's spent a lot of time in hotels, inspiring her new novel 'Strange Hotel' (Faber), in which the hotel becomes a metaphor for middle age. Joining Eimear is Andy Miller, author of 'The Year of Reading Dangerously' and presenter of the Backlisted Podcast. Andy Miller ...
Feb 21, 2020•48 min
Poets Layli Long Soldier who is Oglala Lakota, and Natalie Diaz who is Mojave, join Ian McMillan for a programme in which they explore the power of pleasure, the effect of recurring images - and the way language can fall short in conveying apology. Professor Sarah Rivett explores the profound impact that Algonquin languages have had on the European mindset, and on the culture of the USA.
Feb 07, 2020•44 min
How can writers make 'goodness' compelling, as a theme or character trait ? Why is virtue-signalling seen as a negative thing? Is poetry the best form for exploring goodness? And do we need more writing about goodness, and more imaginative imagery for it'? Ian McMillan is joined by guests Toby Litt, Will Harris, Kate Fox and Kelcey Wilson-Lee. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Faith Lawrence
Jan 31, 2020•48 min
Puns have a long history in human writing. Most of us recognise them as those little gems of comedy genius that make you laugh, or groan, but they're useful for being more than just funny, they're also fundamental to what makes poetry work and they provide the engine of change in language by allowing ideas to slip from one meaning to another. Artist and composer Hannah Catherine Jones, comedy writer Jack Bernhardt, poet Nasser Hussain and Sam Leith - Literary editor of The Spectator - join Ian M...
Jan 24, 2020•47 min
A must for those who submit poetry and fiction to presses and magazines - the Verb takes a deep dive into the language of the poetry publishing world. It's a vibrant landscape, with publishers like Carcanet celebrating 50 years in business, and a whole host of smaller presses and magazine publishers thriving both online and in print. Many of the people behind the scenes are poets and writers themselves, including our guests. They explore the 'poetry' words that inexplicably appear in submissions...
Jan 10, 2020•46 min
The Christmas Verb rejoices in the pleasure of nonsense language, nonsense stories, ridiculous rhymes and things that makes no sense at all. Presenter Ian McMillan is joined by one of the greatest children’s book partnerships of all time, Julia Donaldson and Axel Schleffer, whose made-up monster the ‘Gruffalo’ is now part of childhoods all over the world – he’s also joined by the former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen with new poetry; Michael’s latest book celebrates the power of silliness and...
Dec 20, 2019•45 min
This week the cabaret of the word heads to the playing field to examine the language of sports writing. Playing for Ian McMillan's team are the T.S.Eliot nominated poet Zaffar Kunial who has just published a pamphlet of poems on cricket, Frank Skinner, whose 'Fantasy Football League' set the tone for sports coverage in the 90's, and we'll hear another short form audio piece recorded as part of the 'New Creatives' Scheme; Joseph Bond's creative documentary 'All Ball'. Verb regular Rob Drummond re...
Dec 06, 2019•50 min
This week The Verb goes to the Circus where it uncovers the darker side of the Victorian fair and the extraordinary language used to tell the stories of the living exhibits of the Freak Show with ringmaster extraordinaire Norman Barrett, historian John Woolf, writer Rosie Garland and poet Keith Hutson. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright
Nov 29, 2019•50 min
Ian McMillan explores German poetry after the fall of the Berlin Wall – with two of Germany’s most celebrated and groundbreaking poets Durs Grünbein and Nora Gomringer. He is also joined by Professor Karen Leeder who’s explored the ways in which contemporary German literature is ‘haunted’ by the GDR, and by Ira Lightman who reads a new poem haunted by Rainer Maria Rilke – the German language poet most often translated into English - and a translation of one of Durs' poems. Presenter: Ian McMilla...
Nov 15, 2019•46 min
Part of the BBC's year-long celebration of books, The Verb looks at the way the language of novels inspires writers. Joining Ian McMillan to champion the books that have inspired them are Tim Minchin, Kit De Waal, Elif Shafak and Geoff Dyer. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Faith Lawrence
Nov 08, 2019•45 min
This week The Verb examines the idea of 'Alone', whether it means revelling in solitude or drowning in loneliness. Joining Ian are debut novelist Okechukwu Nzelu, whose 'The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney' examines finding yourself and where you belong, and Will Taylor who will be presenting an excerpt of his audio drama 'Black Boys Cry', produced as part of the BBC's New Creatives scheme. DJ Taylor takes us on a tour of the loneliest characters, place and sentences in literature, as well as an ...
Nov 01, 2019•45 min
Ian McMillan with writing inspired by molluscs (snails, slugs, and cockles) - he's joined by the novelist Jill Dawson on Patricia Highsmith's pet snails, poets Isabel Galleymore and Kate Fox, and Richard Gameson on the mystery of snail battles in the margins of medieval manuscripts.
Oct 18, 2019•44 min
This week, Ian McMillan and the guests shoot for the moon. Ian is joined by Ocean Vuong, winner of the 2017 TS Eliot prize for 'Night Sky with Exit Wounds', who has just published his first novel 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous' (Cape). Ocean celebrates his favourite recent moon writing by Mojave American poet Natalie Diaz. We also her from Mary Jean Chan, who has just published her debut collection 'Flèche'. As it's our last programme of The Verb season before we take our summer break, we've b...
Jul 19, 2019•50 min
The 'feel' of another language and the impact of its sound is hard to convey in translation. Are there ways to be more faithful to the visceral experience of a prose piece or a poem? Or should we be questioning the idea that a translator can or should be faithful? Rowan Williams discusses the 'verbal spring' of the iconic Welsh bard Taliesin and the work attributed to him, novelist Adam Thirlwell and Palestinian writer Adania Shibli explore the pleasures and possibilities of simultaneous transla...
Jul 12, 2019•45 min
What kind of writing and behaviour gets called 'vulgar' and how does 'vulgar' relate to the word 'common'? The Verb explores the power of both words: their power to hurt and shame, the way they help, hinder and enlighten us - and asks whether we can do without them. Poets Philip Gross, Jacqueline Saphra, Heather Phillipson (the next artist to be curating the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square) and writer Cathy Rentzenbrink join Ian McMillan. Producer: Faith Lawrence Presenter: Ian McMillan...
Jul 05, 2019•50 min
This week The Verb is live at The Aldeburgh Festival in Snape Maltings. Joining Ian and a studio audience are Lavinia Greenlaw, Fiona Sampson and Mark Padmore. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Faith Lawrence
Jun 08, 2019•47 min
This week The Verb comes from The Hay Festival, recorded in front of an audience at the BBC Tent. Ian's guests are the writer John Lanchester on his new dystopian novel 'The Wall' (Faber), poet Hannah Sullivan who recently won the TS Eliot Prize for her debut collection 'Three Poems' (Faber), comedian and 'Mash Report' star Rachel Parris on the art of the musical parody and Nina Stibbe whose novel 'Reasons to Be Cheerful was awarded The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction. Prese...
May 31, 2019•44 min
The Verb does a deep dive into the word 'America' - why does it have such a hold on the imagination? Ian's guests are Tracy K Smith, the US Poet Laureate, nominated for the TS Eliot prize for her collection 'Wade in the Water', and Terrance Hayes, author of 'American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin', which was also shortlisted for the TS Eliot. Joining them is the critic Sarah Churchwell, author of Behold, America: A History of America First and the American Dream. Presenter: Ian McMilla...
May 24, 2019•44 min
This week The Verb is messing about on the river of language, part of BBC Radio 3's season of programmes on Rivers. Ian McMillan is joined by the Booker Prize-winning novelist Alan Hollinghurst, music journalist and broadcaster Jude Rogers and the poets Chris Wallace-Crabbe and MacGillivray. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Faith Lawrence
May 17, 2019•50 min
Ian's guests on the 'late-night language lock-in' are the novelist Mark Haddon on his new novel The Porpoise' and poet Rachael Allen, whose debut collection 'Kingdomland' has just been published by Faber. We're also joined by Verb Regular Kate Fox and Allison Davies, who has written the next in our series of Verb dramas. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Faith Lawrence
May 10, 2019•44 min
Ian McMillan and guests explore writing about insects and insect-language – including the way insect aliens are depicted in science fiction. Will Burns and Hannah Peel celebrate moths in a new sound commission, poet Elizabeth-Jane Burnett shares work-in-progress, linguist Rob Drummond explores Ursula Le Guin and Doctor Who, entomologist Richard Jones explains why he is happy to call himself 'Bugman', and editor Michael Schmidt celebrates the Australian poet Les Murray.
May 03, 2019•52 min
The Verb explores the pleasure and possibility of 'the gap', including line-breaks, spaces between words, and gaps in our understanding - with Linda Grant, Ira Lightman, Fiona Moore and Emma Smith. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Faith Lawrence
Apr 26, 2019•44 min
In an extended interview, the Booker Prize winning poet and novelist Michael Ondaatje sits down with Ian McMillan to discuss the pleasure of naming characters, dark houses as settings, listeners in his fiction, his re-shaping of forms, and the enduring inspiration of music, along with other aspects of his writing process. Michael is best known for his critically acclaimed novel, 'The English Patient', turned into an Oscar winning film starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, and now on the s...
Mar 22, 2019•44 min
This week The Verb is looking at modern retelling and remixing of ancient stories. Jenny Lewis discusses her book 'Gilgamesh Retold' (Carcanet), Fiona Benson explains why Zeus is at the heart of her new collection 'Vertigo & Ghost' (Cape), there's new poetry from Richard Scott and Jack Bernhardt is off to Sherwood Forest, Hollywood style. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Faith Lawrence
Mar 15, 2019•49 min
The Verb explores footnotes, ironic detective fiction, poem-spells, satire, sound loops and neologisms - and the way they can all be used to fight sexist language - in honour of International Women's Day. Ian's guests are the writer and sociologist Professor Ann Oakley, who popularised the word 'gender' in the 1970s, and founded the Social Science Research Unit at the UCL Institute of Education, the novelist and critic Dr Siri Hustvedt on her new novel 'Memories of the Future', the poet Salena G...
Mar 08, 2019•48 min
Ian McMillan explores what happens when writers have to shift their thoughts and feelings into a second language. Novelist Patrick McGuinness argues that he can 'feel more than he can say in French, and say more than he can feel in English', Nick Makoha brings us a new poetry commission inspired by leaving Uganda (and three languages behind) when he was only four. We also hear about the 'Polish Sappho' - the groundbreaking poet Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska who moved to Blackpool during the Sec...
Mar 01, 2019•49 min
Ian McMillan looks at language after dark and writing about nightlife with guests Dave Haslam, Geraldine Quigley, Rachael Young and Chris Green. Dave Haslam is a writer, broadcaster and Dj and the author of 'Life After Dark', a comprehensive history of nightlife in Britain. Geraldine Quigley's debut novel 'Music Love Drugs War' follows a group of young friends trying to have a good time against the background of the troubles in Derry, Theater Maker Rachael Young examines both the good and the ba...
Feb 15, 2019•45 min
Ian McMillan celebrates the bicentenary of writer, artist and critic John Ruskin, alongside US fiction writer Kristen Roupenian (author of 'Cat Person' - a story which went viral after being published in The New Yorker), Professor Dinah Birch, and Sarala Estruch. He also introduces a new commission inspired by Ruskin's fascination with geology (a collaboration between the musician Sonic Pleasure and Verb regular, the poet Ira Lightman).
Feb 08, 2019•44 min
Ian McMillan gets into the subjunctive mood with brand new writing from Toby Litt, a new poetry commission from Holly Pester, on the subjunctive in welsh with Menna Elfyn and Rob Drummond explains why the subjunctive is dying out amongst the young... Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright
Feb 01, 2019•50 min
The Verb this week is an extended conversation with the poet, editor, mentor, teacher and aphorist Don Paterson. Don Paterson first came to prominence in the early 90s, winning the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection for ‘Nil Nil’ in 1993. The following year he was selected as one of the Poetry Society’s ‘New Generation Poets’ alongside contemporaries such as Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Kathleen Jamie and his friend and mentor Michael Donaghy. He has published nine collections of...
Jan 25, 2019•47 min
