The Verb

Ian McMillan is joined by actor and writer Harriet Walter, sound artist Jason Singh, poet Gillian Allnutt - and hears ritual language for glaciers - from writers Andri Snaer Magnason and Manjushree Thapa.

Dame Harriet Walter is one of our best loved actresses. She's absorbed the rhythms of Shakespeare's writing over decades of her award-winning work on the stage. For 'The Verb' Harriet performs new poems she's written for her book '...

Ian McMillan welcomes poetry about fathers, songs celebrating the things that fall out of books, and a poetic investigation into the women who were labelled witches, with guests Alison Binney, Boo Hewerdine, Yvonne Lyon, and Fiona Benson. Ian also presents a new Eartoon (our cartoon for the ear ) which celebrates the quirks of phrasal Verbs written by Stagedoor Johnny (aka Richard Poynton).

Alison Binney explores what it means to ha...

On this week’s edition of The Verb: Ian McMillan basks in the glow of a Neon Line explained by the celebrated Faroese poet and novelist Carl Jóhan Jensen; Karen Downs-Barton shares poems from her debut collection, Minx, which reflects on her Romani childhood; Cristóbal Bianchi, cofounder of the Casagrande Collective, on their Bombing Of Poems project; and Naz Knight, poet-in-residence at Luton Town FC, on drawing poetic inspiration...

Ian McMillan's guests celebrate hedges, with poetry from Alison Brackenbury and Testament, singing from Sam Lee, Michael Symmons Roberts explores a poem with a nightingale at its centre, and hedgelayer Paul Lamb records himself walking a hedgerow that's rich in wildlife.

This hedge-themed special features a haunted hedge from poet Alison Brackenbury, part of the anthology 'Lincolnshire Folk Tales Reimagined' (ed, Anna Milon and Ror...

Ian McMillan's guests are the Scottish Makar Peter Mackay, Jamaican poet Lorna Goodison, as well as Indian dancer and poet Tishani Doshi, and the musician Scanner.

Scanner lets us into the baffling and mysterious 'poetry' of album titles by Autechre, Aphex Twin and other electronic music artists. Scanner has worked with Laurie Anderson, and Pauline Oliveros amongst other artists, as well as creating sound design for installations at...

Rebecca Watts has just published her third poetry collection - The Face In The Well. She discusses writing poems that engage with the work of an earlier generation of poets, turning a cherished childhood memory into poetry, and Emily Brontë's love of ironing. Poet and writer Brian Bilston is as much a fan of the American writer, artist, and designer Edward Gorey as The Verb. He accepted our commission to create an updated versio...

Flames and poetry - what poetry tell us about the Los Angeles fires, the pleasure the poet John Keats took in reading - a poem-letter to an imaginary estate agent, and magical language. To explore all this McMillan is joined by poetry writers and poetry lovers.

Ian's guests: BBC newsreader and journalist Reeta Chakrabarti is a trustee of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association. She shares her passion for John Keats' poem 'On First...

How does it feel to be adopted? How does naming things affect experience? Why does a mysterious sound make Ian want to get out of the studio in Salford? Is it ever a good idea to pretend to have a particular accent? Poems, questions and much more - on this week's Verb.

Ian McMillan is joined by poets Joelle Taylor, Anthony Joseph, Luke Wright, and sociolinguist Rob Drummond.

Joelle Taylor brings us a brand new commission inspired by...

Ian McMillan presents highlights from the TS Eliot Prize Readings - extraordinary poetry from 2024.

Poetry books featured :

Raymond Antrobus 'Signs, Music' (Picador Poetry) Hannah Copley 'Lapwing' (Pavilion Poetry) Helen Farish 'The Penny Dropping' (Bloodaxe Books) Peter Gizzi 'Fierce Elegy' (Penguin Poetry) Gustav Parker Hibbett 'High Jump as Icarus Story' (Banshee Press) Rachel Mann 'Eleanor Among the Saints' (Carcanet Press) Gboye...

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins tells Ian McMillan about the influence of poetry on his writing, and shares poems written by his own mother. Ian also explores the influence of a very competitive mother on the life and poetry of former National Poet of Wales Gwyneth Lewis. And as it's the first Verb of the year, stand-up poet Kate Fox suggests new names for all the calendar months, whilst Stagedoor Johnny brings a new 'eart...

The Morecambe Poetry festival hosts Ian McMillan and the Verb at the Morecambe Winter Gardens, for a special recording with poets Pam Ayres, Raymond Antrobus and Henry Normal, three performers much- loved by audiences.

Pam Ayres takes us back to the beginning of her career with the first poem she ever performed live whilst working for the Royal Air Force. This preceded her memorable winning appearance on the TV talent show Opportuni...

A special recording of The AdVerb at The Hackney Empire . Ian McMillan introduces six unique collaborations - new commissions between poets composers and musicians in collaboration with BBC Contains Strong Language and the BBC Symphony Orchestra

Poets from the East End of London team up with composers to make new pieces that tell stories of this part of the capital city in all its astonishing diversity .

1. Keith Jarrett with his ne...

Ian McMillan is joined by four guests for more poetry and performance .

After a year characterised by wet weather, Alan Connor constructs a poem from 188 Words for Rain collected on travels around the country for his new book with that title. Comedian and writer Isy Suttie treats us to a new song written with the approaching Bonfire Night in mind, but the fireworks in the studio don't only come from her guitar. The other guests g...

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 marath...

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, w...

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...

Gardens, balloons, parties and whales feature in this week's cabaret of the word. Ian's guests include Toby Litt, Roger Robinson, Hannah Silva and Caleb Femi.

Novelist, poet and librettist Toby Litt has wrestled Ian, written stories backwards, and been limited to a single verb, in previous Verb commissions. This week he has to write something surreal for us, and then write something even more surreal by the end of the show - whilst ...

Ian McMillan presents a cabaret of the word - the best poetry and performance - with guests Daljit Nagra, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Brian Bilston and the voice of Stagedoor Johnny.

Brian Bilston, internet poetry sensation - and the poet behind 'Days like there' and 'Alexa, what is there to know about love?' shares poems in both human and animal languages from his new book 'Let Sleeping Cats Lie'.

Karen McCarthy Woolf writes us a brand n...