Verity Sharp's guest appearances

Verity Sharp

Books and Authors

One to One

Clive Myrie

Jane Hill

Ben Smith

Alexander McCall Smith

Isy Suttie

Helen Mort

Peter Bazalgette

Angela Barnes

Tuppence Middleton

Sathnam Sanghera

Val McDermid

Nikesh Shukla

Rachel Johnson

Sian Harries

Sarfraz Manzoor

OwlTail

Tim Parks

What happens when you become obsessed by words? What happens when this obsession becomes so severe that your life becomes a frenzied narrative filling your every waking moment ? How do you escape? Verity Sharp meets Tim Parks who shares his experiences of a painful chronic condition brought about by a constant mental and physical tension, related to his work as a writer. When doctors couldn’t explain his symptoms, he was forced to look elsewhere. He didn’t give up writing. He has learned to be idle. Producer Sarah Blunt.

The Value of Idling – Verity Sharp meets Tim Parks

Josh Cohen

Could idling help free us from the treadmill of work and increase our creativity? Is boredom conducive to creativity? In the first of two programmes we hear from psychoanalyst, Professor of Modern Literary Theory at Goldsmiths University of London, author and practising idler Josh Cohen. He talks to Verity Sharp about the value of idling, how a much more relaxed attitude to life is not a hindrance but can encourage creativity and why being bored can be positive! Producer Sarah Blunt

The Value of Idling - Verity Sharp meets Josh Cohen

Matthew Syed

Harriett Gilbert talks favourite books with Verity Sharp and Matthew Syed.

A Good Read 20 June 2017: Verity Sharp & Matthew Syed