The Verb

The Verb explores the language and literature inspired by northern rocks - with Benjamin Myers, Bella Hardy, M. John Harrison, Kate Davis and Simon Bainbridge.

Ian McMillan talks resilience in the BBC Tent with The Last Poets, Michael Morpurgo, Daniel Morden and Helen Mort

Presenter: Ian McMillan

Ian McMillan peers into the pop-up tent that is 'festival' writing with Murray Lachlan Young - he introduces new fiction from Louise Welsh, new poetry from William Letford and Hollie McNish joins the programme to explore, in conversation with Dr Peter Mackay, the kind of festive language and rituals associated with Scots Gaelic literature.

Ian is also joined by Professor Sarah Churchwell to unpick the language of the great American novelist Philip Roth - who died this week - and to celebrate not only the meaning, but the sound and texture of Roth's sentences. Roth's best-known novels include the darkly comic 'Portnoy's Complaint' and the Pulitzer Prize winning 'American Pastoral'.

Examining autism, and the experience of being autistic through comedy, poetry, fiction and footnotes with guests Henry Normal, James McGrath, Kate Fox, and Alicia Kopf.

Producer: Faith Lawrence

Ian McMillan and guests explore Japanese night-time language, poetic encounters and musical collisions - and uncanny meetings that happen in the dark.

Producer: Faith Lawrence

Can algorithms help writers think more clearly and create innovative work ?

On this week's 'Algorithm Verb' Ian McMillan is joined by Helen Arney, who performs a brand new love-song (written for the programme) using search engine algorithms, by Eugenia Cheng, a mathematician and pianist who is passionate about ridding the world of 'math-phobia', by the computer scientist Ursula Martin (who writes on Ada Lovelace, often credited with the first computer 'algorithm'), and by writer Kate Pullinger who is fascinated by the potential of algorithms to make stories more haunting and personal.

Producer: Faith Lawrence

The writer and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips is the author of 'On Kindness', and 'On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored' amongst other works of non-fiction. He is also a regular contributor to the London Review of Books. Adam invited The Verb into his west-London consulting room to discuss the rules and significance of Freud's concept of 'free association', the importance of inconclusive conclusions and what he sees as the lopsided relationship between poetry and psychoanalysis - something he explores in his new book 'In Writing: Essays on Literature' (Hamish Hamilton).

AL Kennedy is a writer and stand-up comedian - for The Verb she explores the importance of 'no' in conversation and in writing, the illusion of spontaneity in comedy and the reasons why Meg, one of the characters in her latest novel 'Serious Sweet' (Vintage), is sceptical of 'talking cures'. AL Kennedy won the Costa Book of the Year award in 2007 for 'Day'.

Rachel Parris and Amy Cooke-Hodgson are part of 'Austentatious', the cult Edinburgh fringe performance group. Austentatious improvise plays in the style of Jane Austen using only audience suggestions. You can hear more from Austentatious in their own BBC Radio 4 show http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08tvyw0

The poet Kathryn Maris is the author of the collections 'God Loves You' (Seren) and 'The Book of Jobs' (Four Way Books). Kathryn explores the influence of psychoanalysis on the work of American poets, and argues that younger poets in Britain are also finding it a rich source of inspiration. Kathryn's work will be appearing alongside Sam Riviere and Frederick Seidel in 'Penguin Modern Poets 5: Occasional Wild Parties'.

Producer: Faith Lawrence

Photo credit: Toby Glanville.

This week on the verb we are turning our attention to Local language. Joining Ian McMillan are the linguist Rob Drummond who has been studying Manchester Voices and identifying new youth dialects, the Icelandic stand up comedian Ari Eldjárn on performing comedy in a city where everyone really does know everyone else and the novelist Sarah Hall discusses how she crafts specificity of place in her writing.

Also joining Ian is Verb regular Hollie McNish who will be introducing us to Vanessa Kisuule, who has jut been announced as Bristol's Poet Laureate.

Presenter: Ian McMillan

Taking notes with Ian are Toby Litt and Jude Rogers.

Presenter: Ian McMillan

This week we're looking the possibilities of looking back. Joining Ian McMillan are...

Novelist and essayist Tim Winton has been twice shortlisted for the Booker prize for his novels 'The Riders' and 'Dirt Music'. In his most recent book, 'The Boy Behind the Curtain', he returns to his childhood.

The comedian Stewart Lee has honed the art of the callback over a long career writing for television and radio alongside his stand-up touring schedule.

Angie Hobbs is the Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. It's been many years since she's read Milan Kundera's cult classic 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being', and we've asked her to return to the text.

Bea Roberts wrote and performed 'Infinity Pool', a modern retelling of Madame Bovary and a hit at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe. For The Verb, we've asked her to tackle the language of the Tripadvisor review.

Producer: Faith Lawrence

First broadcast May 2017.