The Verb

January is a month of resolutions and fresh starts, of gyms and diets. This week Ian McMillan and guests tackle the lang... Read more

Ian McMillan celebrates the bicentenary of writer, artist and critic John Ruskin, alongside US fiction writer Kristen Ro... Read more

The Verb explores 'The Midlands' - with the novelist Jonathan Coe - on using the Midlands 'to think with' in his new bo... Read more

How has the scrolling we do on social media changed writers and readers, and what does it have in common with ancient sc... Read more

Can algorithms help writers think more clearly and create innovative work ? On this week's 'Algorithm Verb' Ian McMillan... Read more

The Verb does a deep dive into the word 'America' - why does it have such a hold on the imagination? Ian's guests are Tr... Read more

The Christmas Verb rejoices in the pleasure of nonsense language, nonsense stories, ridiculous rhymes and things that ma... Read more

This week, Ian McMillan and the guests shoot for the moon.Ian is joined by Ocean Vuong, winner of the 2017 TS Eliot priz... Read more

With Will Eaves, Ben Schott, Selina Nwulu and Jeremy Noel-Tod

The Verb explores the language and literature inspired by northern rocks - with Benjamin Myers, Bella Hardy, M. John Har... Read more

Ian McMillan explores German poetry after the fall of the Berlin Wall – with two of Germany’s most celebrated and ground... Read more

This week The Verb is looking at modern retelling and remixing of ancient stories. Jenny Lewis discusses her book 'Gilga... Read more

Ian McMillan peers into the pop-up tent that is 'festival' writing with Murray Lachlan Young - he introduces new fiction... Read more

The 'feel' of another language and the impact of its sound is hard to convey in translation. Are there ways to be more f... Read more

The Verb this week is an extended conversation with the poet, editor, mentor, teacher and aphorist Don Paterson. Don Pat... Read more

To mark 100 years since the end of the First World War, The Verb presents ‘Unwritten’, a special edition of the programm... Read more

Ian McMillan with writing inspired by molluscs (snails, slugs, and cockles) - he's joined by the novelist Jill Dawson on... Read more

How do you write a fight? Ian McMillan and Hollie McNish are joined by Ross Sutherland, Ben Crystal, Willy Vlautin and T... Read more

Examining autism, and the experience of being autistic through comedy, poetry, fiction and footnotes with guests Henry N... Read more

Puns have a long history in human writing. Most of us recognise them as those little gems of comedy genius that make yo... Read more