The Verb

Episódios

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  Poetry to keep you afloat 29.07.2026 41min

  Ian McMillan and poets Vona Groake, Jardel Rodrigues, Mira Rosenthal and Malgorzata Lebda bring poetry that helps us navigate storms, rivers and seas - real and metaphorical, and sound artist and musician SHHE (Su Shaw) immerses us in surprising sounds of the sea. Vona Groake’s latest collection Infinity Pool was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize this year. She’s writer in residence at St John’s College Cambridge and the Ireland Professor of Poetry at Trinity College in Dublin. Vona chooses a 'neon line' to explore and reads her own work.Su Shaw, who works as SHHE, is a sound artist and composer, whose music has been shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year. Su is based in Dundee – and has always been intimate with that city’s river - the River Tay. Her new album ‘THALASSA’ was produced sustainably, in keeping with her ecologically minded projects - and is is a six-part ambient work giving voice to the Mediterranean Sea.Jardel Rodrigues is from Old Trafford in Manchester – he’s won the BBC Words First Spoken Word Poetry Competition, and he’s a titan of Manchester’s shining spoken word institution 'Young Identity'. He brings us a new commission on the theme 'How to get through'.We hear the voice and the work of Malgorzata Lebda, a Polish poet who writes poems that reveal what flows between people and landscape. Malgorzata ran the length of the longest river in Poland, the Vischula – driven by her sense of how threatened our rivers are, a kind of poetry activism. Malgorzata's translator, Mira Rosenthal joins us to explain how she managed to convey Malgorzata's innovative way of writing about the body in her collection 'Mer de Glace' (Fitzcarraldo). Mira is a poet, and a Professor of Creative Writing based in California.Produced by Faith Lawrence
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  The Verb - a house of multipoet occupancy 21.06.2026 42min

  The celebrated writer Daniel Mendelsohn on his acclaimed translation of Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey. Poet Lydia Unsworth on finding inspiration for her new collection, Stay Awhile, in ring roads, shopping centres, and cooling towers.BBC New Generation Thinker, Joe Shute, on using poetry to reconnect communities to the waterway which powered Manchester's industrial revolution - the River Irk.Khadijah Ibrahiim discusses her choice of Neon Line for The Verb's long-running feature which asks a guest to talk about a line from a poem that shines out to them.Presenter Ian McMillan Producer: Ekene Akalawu
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  Myths to nourish your life: poetry with Ian McMillan and Angie Hobbs, Rishi Dastidar, Bradley Taylor, Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch 14.06.2026 41min

  The poems that nourish us, and the myths that nourish poems. What can a connection with a mythical figure give us, or a legendary flower? Ian McMillan is joined by Zeus, Poseidon, the Green Man, the trees of Under Milk Wood, and Wordsworth's favourite flower - courtesy of The Verb's guests - the philosopher Angie Hobbs, and poets Rishi Dastidar, Bradley Taylor, and Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch.Bradley Taylor brings Brummie legends like 'Pete the Feet' into a poem with the likes of Zeus and Icarus, in his slam-winning poem 'I don't care about the gods'. Bradley's book is called 'You Missed the Best Parts', and he writes a brand new poem during the programme.Angie Hobbs is Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy Emerita at the University of Sheffield. and her most recent book is called 'Why Plato Matters Now'. Angie shares 'a neon line', a stellar line of poetry that can help us get through uncertain times. Rishi Dastidar shares a new commission on the theme of 'how to get through' - and celebrates William Wordsworth's favourite flower, the lesser celandine. Rishi also reads from his new collection 'Cherry Blossom at Nightbreak' - and we discover the mythic name of the legendary entertainer Bruce Forsyth.Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch's new book is 'Milk Wood Memoir'. It includes a legendary tree, and family recollections of that mythic Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Samantha's poetry has been nourished by living in the Welsh fishing village of New Quay - also an influence on Dylan Thomas's play 'Under Milk Wood'
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  Poetry - a bullet-proof vest for the soul 07.06.2026 42min

  Ian McMillan is joined by Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News' International Editor, who shares poems that have sustained her while reporting from conflict zones around the world.Richard Skinner, editor of 14, the annual poetry publication dedicated to 14-line poems, chooses this week's Neon Line.Kym Deyn discusses their debut poetry collection Folkish which reimagines the folklore of Northern England for a contemporary reader.Cara Thompson, Nottingham's first Nature Poet Laureate, talks about her new project, Needle, which fuses poetry and textiles.Presented by Ian McMillan Produced by Ekene Akalawu
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  The Verb at the Hay Festival 31.05.2026 42min

  In this special edition of The Verb, coming from the Hay Festival, Ian McMillan's guests are:Nicola Davies, the Children's Laureate Wales, who will be talking about how the natural world inspires her poetry and why she thinks writing is a superpower;Novelist Joanna Kavenna will be taking on The Verb's Neon Line challenge where a guest chooses a line that they feel shines out from its poem;Nathan James Dearden is the composer-mentor for this year's Composer's Medal. A former Composer's Medal winner himself, he'll be helping the shortlisted composers create new choral works using the poetry of Waldo Williams. He discusses the art of setting poetry to music.;clare e potter will be reflecting on her her participation in The Clearing - a Royal Society of Literature project where four poets from the home nations of the UK have written poems separately and together inspired by the myths and stories found in their respective parts of the British Isles.Presenter Ian McMillan Producer: Ekene Akalawu
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  Dark nights of the Soul, Brian Bilston, JH Prynne, Daljit Nagra, William Blake and Martha Sprackland 24.05.2026 41min

  The comedy of corporate language, why a 16th century 'dark night of the soul' poem could help you through your own dark night, the experiments of J.H.Prynne, and the tenderness of boys' friendships - with Ian McMillan and guests Brian Bilston, Martha Sprackland, Daljit Nagra and Ira Lightman.Brian Bilston's very funny books include 'You Took the Last Bus Home', and 'Alexa, what is there to know about love'? He reads from his new guide to reading and writing poetry: 'How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside'. Martha Sprackland is a poet, essayist and poetry editor as well as a translator. She explores a poem called 'Dark Night' by the 16th century Spanish mystic St John of the Cross. It comes from her new book of translations, also called 'Dark Night'.Daljit Nagra, poet, professor of poetry and radio presenter for BBC Radio 4 Extra reads from his new collection 'Yiewsley' (the 'Venice of West London' ) and illuminates this week's 'Neon Line' - a remarkable line in a remarkable poem.Ira Lightman is a Verb regular, a poet and an artist. He dives into the words and ideas of J.H. Prynne, one of our most celebrated experimental poets who died in April.
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  Michael Laskey, Michael Schmidt, Michelle Penn, Rachel Douglas-Jones 08.03.2026 42min

  Michael Laskey has produced six collections of poetry since his first pamphlet in 1988. That was also the year he co-founded the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. His career in poetry which has seen him teach, edit, and publish and has resulted in him becoming this year's recipient of the King's Gold Medal for Poetry. As his Collected Poems is published, he looks back on charting his life in poetry.When Michael Schmidt met Elizabeth Jennings, he was a student and she was a celebrated poet. As managing director of Carcanet Press he become her publisher. A relationship that endured until her final collection in 2001. In her centenary year, he talk about her distinctive qualities as a poet and shares his favourite poem of hers.Michelle Penn takes inspiration from the Latin American iteration of the retablos art form for her new book - Retablo for a door. The poetry collection in part explores the female experience, but also turns its attention to subjects as varied as the first atomic bomb test, and Leonardo da Vinci's drawing, Vitruvian Man. She discusses why she found retablos such a useful creative aid for her poetry.In Redacted: Writing in the Negative Space of the State, academic Rachel Douglas-Jones reflected on the poetic power of redaction to interrogate and understand the General Data Protection Regulations. She explains why redaction, currently in the news for its power to obscure, can also lead to revelation.Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Ekene Akalawu
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  Sibling relationships with Blake Morrison, Natalie Shapero, Tara Bergin, and the word 'literally' 01.03.2026 41min

  Ian McMillan is joined by Blake Morrison with the poetry of sibling relationships, Natalie Shapero - who reports poetically from the world of cinema in L.A., and Tara Bergin, who looks at how to escape from a poem, as well as sharing a 'Neon Line' with us. We also have our cartoon for the ear - an 'eartoon' exploring the origins of confusing words in the English language - written and performed by Stagedoor Johnny (Richard Poynton).Blake Morrison's new poetry collection is 'Afterburn' (Chatto and Windus) - his new book on writing memoir 'On Memoir' is published in April.Natalie Shapero's collection 'Stay Dead' is published by Outspoken Press.Tara Bergin's 'Savage Tales' is published by CarcanetProduced by Faith Lawrence
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  George Szirtes, Iryna Starovoyt, Zain Rishi, Katie Clarke 22.02.2026 42min

  George Szirtes, winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize and the King’s Gold Medal for Poetry, is the most recent poet to join the small selection panel for arguably the UK's most public celebration of poetry - Poems on the Underground. As the London Tube initiative reaches its 40th birthday, George discusses how poems are chosen and shares some poetry that he feels speaks to the strength of the scheme.Depending on how you count it, this month marks the 4th or the 12th anniversary of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia - a conflict in which poetry has become a player. Iryna Starovoyt is a poet and critic from Ukraine. She reflects on the 19th century poet and artist Taras Shevchenko - regarded as a totemic figure in Ukrainian literature, and whose name is on the country's highest award for Arts and Culture, the Taras Shevchenko National Prize.Katie Clarke, Director of Literature at The Reader organisation, shares her experiences of reading poetry with people who have dementia and the surprising power of poetry to make fresh connections at the individual and group level. Zain Rishi's debut poetry pamphlet, Noon, is published this month. He becomes the latest poet to choose a Neon Line for The Verb's regular feature in which poets reflect on poetry lines that they feel shine out.Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Ekene Akalawu
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  Richard Dawson, Jacob Polley, Sarah Howe, Frank Cottrell Boyce on John Carey 15.02.2026 41min

  Ian McMillan's guests this week are the singer and songwriter Richard Dawson, T.S. Eliot prize winning poets Jacob Polley and Sarah Howe and Children's Laureate Frank Cottrell Boyce - who celebrates Professor John Carey and the art of poetry criticism.Richard Dawson and Jacob Polley light up the past and make the future of energy and community life seem more real - by bringing their different sensibilities to 'Ancestral Reverb' - an album created by north east organisation 'Threads in the Ground' (directed by Adam Cooper). 'Ancestral Reverb' contains music spanning over 100 years, and the words of those connected to coal. DJ and producer Bert Verso sampled historic music for this album, and wove it through with his own new compositions. The records are embedded with fragments of coal. Richard Dawson's latest album is 'End of the Middle' and Jacob Polley's 'Hymn to Water' can be heard on BBC Sounds (www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002mw7t)Sarah Howe's new book is 'Loop of Jade' which beautifully takes on threads from her T.S. Eliot prize winning collection 'Loop of Jade'. Sarah explores a 'Neon Line' for us from the work of the American 20th century poet Elizabeth Bishop - a stand-out line that lets us into a poem. Sarah tells us about the power of the messy first draft, and where it can lead a poet.Children's Laureate, novelist and writer of the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony - Frank Cottrell Boyce celebrates the wit, generosity, and pithy opening sentences of Professor John Carey, whose distinctive voice as teacher, critic and broadcaster led so many into a deep engagement with poetry.Presented by Ian McMillan Produced by Faith Lawrence
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  The Love Verb 08.02.2026 42min

  Ian MacMillan has love in mind as he is joined by a swoon of poets all interested in the subject of love in lyric form.Kim Moore’s poetry collections include The Art of Falling and All The Men I Never Married. She's chosen this week's Neon Line, The Verb's feature on lines that shine out from their poems, from a love poem that has long moved her. She also shares a new love poem from her forthcoming collection, The House of Broken Things,Deborah Alma, poet, editor, and co-founder of The Poetry Pharmacy is a fan of love poetry anthologies She discusses the approach she took in her own love poetry anthology - Words For Love, and why she finds The Emma Press Anthology of Love edited by Rachel Piercey and Emma Wright, and Something New: Alternative Poems for Alternative Weddings edited by Caroline Bird and Rachel Long, such appealing collections.In Rob Macaisa Colgate's debut poetry book, Hardly Creatures, he models his collection of poems on the experience of a fully accessible art gallery, inspired by his work in disability arts gallery in Toronto called Tangled. Hardly Creatures features a series of love poems which Rob calls Benches to reflect the fact that he sees them as places of rest in a collection often concerned with the practicalities, the pain, and the politics of disability.Mark Connors, co-founder and editor of Yaffle Press, on the love song inspired poetry in their latest publication - Poems Inspired By the Best Songs of All Time.Presented by Ian MacMillan Produced by Ekene Akalawu
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  Rilke's life-changing poems and Paul Farley, Kate Fox, Griot Gabriel 01.02.2026 41min

  Ian McMillan explores Rainer Maria Rilke's life advice, and is joined by Paul Farley, Griot Gabriel, Kate Fox and Ulrich BaerPaul Farley brings us the sound of planes, and the world of the usher - as well as a life-long connection to Robert Louis Stevenson's 'A Child's Garden of Verses'. Paul's latest collection 'When it Rained for a Million Years' was shortlisted for this year's T.S.Eliot Prize.'Can poetry change your life'? - poet and Verb regular Kate Fox - and writer and scholar Ulrich Baer explore a 'neon line' (an outstanding line of poetry' ) by the German language poet Rainer Maria Rilke; an enigmatic line that has left the page and entered popular culture. So why is Rilke's poetry so popular in 2026 - a hundred years after his death? Kate's latest book is 'On Sycamore Gap' - Ulrich's writing on Rilke includes 'Dark Interval: Rilke's Letters on Grief, Loss and Transformation'. Griot Gabriel is from Manchester, and founded The Poetry Place. In 2025 he won the Forward Prize for 'Best Single Poem – Performed' for ‘Where I’m From’. Here he shares extracts of new work and explores the resonance of the word 'hand-me-down'.
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  T.S. Eliot Prize Poets 25.01.2026 40min

  Join Ian McMillan for a celebration of remarkable poets and poetry as he presents highlights of the annual T.S. Eliot Prize readings, recorded in front of an audience at London's Southbank.Ian was the host for the TS Eliot Prize readings at the Royal Festival Hall - where shortlisted poets read from their shortlisted collections in front of a packed audience.For this edition of The Verb Ian has selected poems featuring infinity pools, slush, shopping malls, family inheritances, the beaver, and lost keys - and tells us which collection scooped the prize of £25,000, awarded by the T.S.Eliot Foundation.The poets featured this year are: Gillian Allnutt, Isabelle Baafi, Catherine-Esther Cowie, Paul Farley, Vona Groarke, Sarah Howe, Nick Makoha, Tom Paulin, Natalie Shapero, and Karen Solie.
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  The Christmas Adverb 19.12.2025 56min

  Testament, beatboxer, rapper and writer - presents a festive Adverb (complete with a yuletide salad battle), with his guests the former Scottish Makar Jackie Kay, poetic legend John Hegley, Mercury prize nominated folk singer Sam Lee, as well as satirical supremo Brian Bilston.They bring iconic robins, soul stirring music, poetic Christmas questions, and quirky Yule traditions to an audience in the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Hall in Salford.Brian Bilston's very funny books include 'You Took the Last Bus Home', and 'Alexa, what is there to know about love'? His latest book is called ‘A Poem for Every Question’. He shares new poems and poems from his book ‘And so this is Christmas’:John Hegley brings surreal festive interaction and poignantly playful poems to the Adverb. He also celebrates a playful December celery battle recorded in the letters of Romantic poet John Keats.Sam Lee's album is ‘Songdreaming’ – he's joined by pianist James Keay to perform songs that sing us deep into this time of year. Sam organises 'Singing with Nightingale' events, so we find out where nightingales go for Christmas.Jackie Kay's latest book is 'May Day' - she shares a poem by one of her favourite poets Norman McCaig - which stars a robin - and tender winter poems from her collections.
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  Simon Armitage, Alistair McGowan, Joelle Taylor 16.11.2025 41min

  Ian McMillan's guests include the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage with poetry from his latest collection 'New Cemetery', impressionist and poet Alistair McGowan and Joelle Taylor with her new book 'Maryville'.Poet Laureate Simon Armitage shares poems from his recent collection 'New Cemetery' - inspired by a cemetery that was being built near his house during lockdown. The poems incorporate a litany of moth species' names, meditations on writing, the dead as an audience for nature - and include responses to the death of Simon's father. Simon also contributes to our 'Neon Line' series - where we ask a poet to celebrate a remarkable line from any poem. Alistair McGowan is an impressionist, a stand-up comedian, as well as a pianist and a poet. In his poems featured on this week's show we encounter a tussle between a sofa and a cat, a critique of using 'that' instead of 'who' or 'which', and a tender exploration of the names we give siblings. His poetry collection is called 'Not what we were expecting'.Joelle Taylor brings us brand new poems from 'Maryville' - the story of a mythical bar in a snowglobe, a stage and a space for lesbian lives and relationships that might otherwise be forgotten. It's been described by Bernadine Evaristo as 'a consistently dazzling work of art'. Joelle won the TS Eliot Prize for poetry for 'C+nto & Othered Poems' and has since published her acclaimed novel, 'The Night Alphabet'.
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  Train Poetry with Don Paterson, Bella Hardy, Carmen Marcus, Patrick McGuinness 09.11.2025 42min

  Ian McMillan enjoys the language of the iconic 'Night Mail' poem by W.H. Auden, invites us into signal boxes, imagines train station bars, and evokes the empty platforms that inspire songs - as he celebrates 200 years of railway inspired poetry with his guests Don Paterson, Carmen Marcus, Bella Hardy and Patrick McGuinness.Don Paterson is a poet and musician. He's the editor of an anthology of train poems called 'Train Songs' (with Sean O'Brien) and described the chapters of his memoir 'Toy Fights' as 'train windows'. The Verb has commissioned Don to write a poem about a station that seems to him particularly unpoetic..Carmen Marcus is a graduate of the 'Verb New Voices' writing scheme. She is a novelist and poet, and for the anniversary of the passenger railway she has been talking to passengers on the Stockton & Darlington line and writing train inspired poems. Carmen brings railway trolls and brand new words for the excitement of train travel to the Verb studio.Patrick McGuinness is British-Belgian writer and poet. He teaches French and Comparative Literature at Oxford. His latest book is a series of essays called 'Ghost Stations' - he explains why the idea of the 'ghost station' has been such a powerful 'engine' for his writing.Bella Hardy is a lover of ballads, a BBC Folk Singer of the Year, and a songwriter. The Verb has asked her to respond to one of the greatest train platform inspired songs of all time - Paul Simon's 'Homeward Bound' . Bella performs a brand new song that celebrates the way waiting for a train can lead artists to come up with some of their best work.You'll also hear the acoustics of a real signal box - part of a soundscape produced by Sheffield folk and electronics duo Polyhymns.Produced by Faith Lawrence ​
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  Shaun Usher, Katrina Naomi, Amani Saeed, Fran Edwards and Jennifer Jones 26.10.2025 42min

  Shaun Usher's Letters of Note project became a cultural empire spanning multiple books, stage shows, and an online archive. He's now produced Diaries of Note - a collection of diary entries that span centuries from the great and the good . He discusses the relationship between a diary entry and a poem.Katrina Naomi on her latest pamphlet of poems, Dance As If, in which she reconnects with her body, as a woman of a certain age, through the medium of dance.Amani Saeed on the culmination of the Language Is A Queer Thing project which for the last three years has brought poets from India and England together to create new work.Mother and daughter, Fran Edwards and Jennifer Jones, on Rebirth - a collection of poems which began as a private conversation reflecting on their relationship, during the pandemic.Presenter Ian McMillan Producer: Ekene Akalawu
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  Poetry by Tony Harrison, US Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, Sinéad Morrissey, David Morley, and Daniel Sluman 19.10.2025 41min

  Ian McMillan celebrates an iconic poem that inspired a generation of poets and readers - Tony Harrison's 'Them and Uz'. His guests include the new US Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, the former Poet Laureate of Belfast Sinéad Morrissey who brings us an autumnal 'Neon Line', zoologist and poet David Morley on his new book 'Passion', and Daniel Sluman on a landmark anthology 'Versus Versus - 100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets' - edited by Rachael Boast, with the help of an Advocacy and Advisory Panel (including Daniel). Poets included in the anthology will be reading at London's Southbank Centre on 25th October.Presented by Ian McMillan Produced by Faith Lawrence
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  Maria Popova, Aditya Narayan, Kimberly Campanello, DM Black 12.10.2025 41min

  Writer and poet Maria Popova on taking inspiration from 19th century ornithological studies for her new publication, An Almanac of Birds – 100 Divinations for Uncertain Days.Slam poet Aditya Narayan has had an impressive winning streak this year – winning the Roundhouse Poetry Slam in April and the Loud Poets Grand Slam final in August. He discusses writing poetry for performance and rhyming English, Hindi, and Urdu.Kimberly Campanello and D.M. Black are members of a distinguished group - poets who have translated Dante's epic poem, The Divine Comedy. They reflect on their different approaches to the 14th century three part work which takes the reader to hell, purgatory, and heaven - Kimberly weaving in her personal history including her Parkinson's diagnosis and the history of Italy in her translation of Part 1: Inferno, and D.M. Black drawing upon his experience as a psychoanalyst in his award-winning translation of Part 2: Purgatorio, and his recently published Part 3: Paradiso.Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Ekene Akalawu
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  The Verb from Contains Strong Language in Bradford 05.10.2025 41min

  Ian McMillan presents The Verb from Contains Strong Language in Bradford - with poets Imtiaz Dharker, Kieron Higgins, Nabeela Ahmed, and Katrina Porteous (reading poems from her Laurel Prize winning collection Rhizodont).Rock, stone and sediments are everywhere in this celebration of poetry and poetry in Bradford. We have millstone grit and the story of stone in a specially commissioned poem from Queen's Gold Medal winner Imtiaz Dharker, the influence of ska on the sediments of language that turned Kieron Higgins into a poet. Nabeela Ahmed reads from her new book 'From Kashmir to Yorkshire' and explores the layers of languages, including Pahari, that helped to tune her poetry ear, and the winner of this year's Laurel Prize for Nature or Environmental poetry, Katrina Porteus, reads from her collection 'Rhizodont'. She was described by the judges as 'always keeping faith with the north-east' and the book was praised as a 'a crucial act of the imagination. speaking as non-human entities (eg an ice core) ...loving, knowing and authoritative'.Produced by Faith Lawrence