This week on The Verb we're looking at writing mentors. How much different can a mentor make, how can we learn from their writing, and what kind of language should a mentor use?

Joining Ian is the comedian Margaret Cho, who was profoundly influenced by her friend and mentor Joan Rivers. Margaret is a groundbreaking American comic who has been Emmy and Grammy nominated five times, hosts the podcast 'Monsters of Talk' and is currently on tour with her latest stand-up show 'Fresh Off The Boat'.

Tim X Atack is a composer and sound designer who works across film, music and theatre; we commissioned him to create a audio piece inspired by the classical myth of Mentor and Athena.

The award winning poet Sarah Howe explores mentoring in the world of poetry.

This week Hollie McNish introduces us to the poetry of Rosy Carrick - who has been influenced by the Russian poet Mayakovsky.

Producer: Faith Lawrence.