The Verb

The Verb episodes:

• 03.29.2024

  The Final Verbdown

  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...

  
• 03.22.2024

  The Claustrophobic Verb

  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...

  
• 03.15.2024

  Zadie Smith

  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...

  
• 03.09.2024

  International Women's Day Verb

  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....

  
• 03.04.2024

  Words on Music

  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...

  
• 02.23.2024

  The Cute Verb

  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...

  
• 02.23.2024

  The World in Words

  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...

  
• 02.09.2024

  The Physical Verb

  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...

  
• 02.06.2024

  The Hip Hop Verb

  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...

  
• 01.28.2024

  Tessa Hadley

  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...

  
• 01.19.2024

  The TS Eliot Prize

  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...

  
• 01.15.2024

  Language

  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...

  
• 01.05.2024

  Last Lines

  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...

  
• 12.22.2023

  The Verb Christmas Special

  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...

  
• 12.15.2023

  Writing a Good Future

  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 -...

  
• 12.01.2023

  Joyce Carol Oates

  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,...

  
• 11.17.2023

  Colm Tóibín

  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...

  
• 11.10.2023

  Shakespeare and the future

  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.

  
• 11.03.2023

  New International Poetry from the Contains Strong Language Festival 2023

  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...

  
• 10.20.2023

  20/10/2023

  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...

  
• 10.06.2023

  The Verb at Contains Strong Language Festival

  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...

  
• 09.29.2023

  Poetry from Contains Strong Language

  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...

  
• 09.22.2023

  Live from Contains Strong Language 2023

  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 - ...

  
• 09.15.2023

  Irish Writing

  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...

  
• 07.14.2023

  The Verb at the Trades Club

  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...

  
• 07.07.2023

  Confidence: Masterclass

  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...

  
• 06.30.2023

  New Ways of Writing

  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...

  
• 06.23.2023

  Fathers and Time

  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,...

  
• 06.16.2023

  The Verb at Hay Festival: How to write a Novel

  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,...

  
• 06.09.2023

  The Verb at Hay Festival

  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...

  
• 06.02.2023

  Futures Verb

  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...

  
• 05.26.2023

  The Wicker Man Verb

  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...

  
• 05.19.2023

  Monsters and the Monstrous

  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...

  
• 05.12.2023

  12/05/2023

  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...

  
• 05.05.2023

  The Sound Design Verb

  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...

  
• 04.28.2023

  The Interview Verb

  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...

  
• 04.21.2023

  Funny Women

  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...

  
• 04.14.2023

  Wild Water

  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...

  
• 04.07.2023

  Something New

  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...

  
• 03.24.2023

  The Sounds between the Words

  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...

  
• 03.17.2023

  Spring Poetry: ambivalence and beauty

  As a new season arrives, Ian McMillan and guests consider ambivalence and beauty in writing about spring. This week Ian peers into the yellow heart of the daffodil to find out what makes a great spring poem, and shares...

  
• 03.10.2023

  The Secret Lives of Women

  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...

  
• 03.03.2023

  The Intimacy of Names

  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...

  
• 02.24.2023

  The Radio Drama Verb

  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...

  
• 02.10.2023

  Seductive Places

  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...

  
• 02.03.2023

  Writing Childhood

  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,...

  
• 01.27.2023

  The City Verb

  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...

  
• 01.23.2023

  The Verb TS Eliot Prize

  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...

  
• 01.20.2023

  The T S Eliot Prize

  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...

  
• 01.13.2023

  Breath

  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...