Podcasts about ts eliot prize

Born in Budapest and brought up in England after coming to the UK as a refugee in 1956, George Szirtes has remained one of the country's most interesting poets since his first prize-winning collection, The Slant Door, was published in 1979. That wasn't the last trophy he was to take home; he won the T S Eliot Prize for his 2005 collection Reel. The SPL caught up with Szirtes at the StAnza poetry festival in March, 2013. In town to read from his collection Bad Machine (Bloodaxe), he spoke to Colin Waters about memory, photography, Twitter and 1960s garage pop. Photo by Caroline Forbes.

In this episode of the podcast, we are joined by poet and essayist Gustav Parker Hibbett whose debut poetry collection, High Jump As Icarus Story was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and the 2025 John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize. Nominated for numerous other prizes and published in a wide range of literary magazines, they hold a BA in English from Stanford University and are currently pursuing a PhD in Literary Practice at Trinity College Dublin, where they are an Early Career Research Fellow at the Long Room Hub. Parker gave a talk on their poetry at SETU in March and was interviewed by two final year English students, Chika Dike and Naoise Murphy, who also join the discussion in studio along with Dr Christa de Brún who organised the event. This event was made possible through funding from the National Forum's Strategic Alignment of Teaching Learning Enhancement.

Ian McMillan's guests are George Szirtes, Cecilia Knapp, Lisa Knapp, Gerry Diver and Rishi Dastidar.The beauty of a swimming pool seen from the air, banks that fly up and out of small towns never to return, the poetry of single objects seen from a train window, and the miniature brilliance of poetry pamphlets - all in this week's edition of The Verb. It can be a shock when banks leave our high streets - poet George Szirtes presents a brand new commission for The Verb inspired by that experience, and reads work from his 2004 collection 'Reel' which won the TS Eliot Prize. George has just been awarded the 'King's Gold Medal' for excellence in poetry.Cecilia Knapp finds surprising images for memories of being a teenager in new poetry on this week's show. Cecilia's first collection is 'Peach Pig' - she has published a novel called 'Little Boxes', and is Poet-in-Residence for London's City Bridge Foundation. We look out of train windows, in a new song by Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver ( from a new album called 'Hinterland'). Gerry has arranged music for films – and in his ground-breaking album 'The Speech Project' he created scores for the remarkable speakers including Christy Moore, the boxer Barry McGuigan and the singer Charlotte Church. Lisa Knapp has been nominated for the BBC folk awards multiple times - her recent performances on the 'Hack Poets Guild' album 'Blackletter Garland' were described as 'expert' and 'ethereal'. Gerry, Lisa and their daughter Bonnie Diver perform live in the studio.Rishi Dastidar shares the joy of small collections - as he celebrates poetry pamphlets with Ian - exploring their appeal and their potential. Rishi is a poet, critic and copywriter. His latest collection is 'Neptune's Projects' described by one reviewer as 'add(ing) wit, postmodern panache and mythic irony to the tradition of the open sea'

Possessing a friendship that spanned the Atlantic, Scotland's John Burnside (1955-2024) and America's Allison Funk were captured in conversation, speaking about what they enjoy about each other's countries, from poetry and music to the mutability of the landscape and people. Allison Funk is the author of four volumes of verse, including The Tumbling Box (2009). John Burnside's Black Cat Bone (2011), is one of only two titles to have won both the Forward Prize and the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry. In a conversation that runs from delta blues to Virginia Woolf, Funk and Burnside explain the way in which they've influenced each other's work while still being ‘opposite sides of the same coin'.

How does it feel to be adopted? How does naming things affect experience? Why does a mysterious sound make Ian want to get out of the studio in Salford? Is it ever a good idea to pretend to have a particular accent? Poems, questions and much more - on this week's Verb.Ian McMillan is joined by poets Joelle Taylor, Anthony Joseph, Luke Wright, and sociolinguist Rob Drummond.Joelle Taylor brings us a brand new commission inspired by the 50th anniversary of the BBC television series 'The Changes' - with its mysterious sound that transforms and challenges modern life. Does it still have resonance today? Joelle won the TS Eliot Prize for poetry in 2022, and her most recent book is a novel - 'The Night Alphabet', which has been described as 'relentlessly inventive.'Anthony Joseph is a poet, musician and academic. He shares poetry of intimacy and intimacy with language - in work from his selected poems 'Precious and Impossible'. Anthony won the TS Eliot prize in 2023 with his 'luminous' collection 'Sonnets for Albert'.Luke Wright is a ground-breaking performer and poet - currently touring with his show 'Joy'. He reads new poems which look at the power of early experiences: a book that helped him understand the experience of being adopted, and a poem which celebrates the beauty of the view from his window in Suffolk.Did the contestant who faked a Welsh accent on 'The Traitors' TV series make a good decision? And what poetry was there to be found in the series? Ian talks to Rob Drummond, Professor of Sociolinguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Ian McMillan presents highlights from the TS Eliot Prize Readings - extraordinary poetry from 2024.Poetry books featured :Raymond Antrobus 'Signs, Music' (Picador Poetry) Hannah Copley 'Lapwing' (Pavilion Poetry) Helen Farish 'The Penny Dropping' (Bloodaxe Books) Peter Gizzi 'Fierce Elegy' (Penguin Poetry) Gustav Parker Hibbett 'High Jump as Icarus Story' (Banshee Press) Rachel Mann 'Eleanor Among the Saints' (Carcanet Press) Gboyega Odubanjo 'Adam' (Faber & Faber) Carl Phillips 'Scattered Snows, to the North' (Carcanet Press) Katrina Porteous 'Rhizodont' (Bloodaxe Books) Karen McCarthy Woolf 'Top Doll' (Dialogue Books)

Lemn Sissay and Rhianna Dhillon review the new Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown starring Timothée Chalamet, the TS Eliot Prize-winning poetry collection Fierce Elegy by Peter Gizzi and the Italian language film, Vermiglio set in a remote Alpine village during World War Two.We pay homage to David Lynch, director of Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive. Plus Mark Savage gives the latest on the feud between rappers Kendrick Lamar and DrakePresenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Described as 'one of the finest poets writing in India today', Arundhathi Subramaniam is a leading Indian poet and award-winning author of fourteen books of poetry and prose. Recent books include the poetry volume, "Love Without a Story"; a prose work on four contemporary women on spiritual journeys, "Women Who Wear Only Themselves"; and an anthology of female sacred poetry in India, Wild Women. She has worked over the years as curator, critic and poetry editor. A recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2020, and shortlisted for the prestigious TS Eliot Prize for Poetry in 2015, her awards include the inaugural Khushwant Singh Prize, the Il Ceppo Prize in Italy, among numerous others.On today's episode, we discuss:* Arundhathi's spiritual journey, including an experience on a train that she describes as "a wordlessness that felt like death," and how it propelled into deeper spiritual seeking* Arundhathi's relationship with her spiritual teacher, Sadhguru, Western misconceptions about the role of a guru, and why any credible spiritual teacher should be guiding you back to your most authentic self* Her understanding of the Goddess, including Her intimacy as well as Her cosmic, universal nature, and  why so often, She is pointing us not to either-or answers, but a "yes-and" understanding of life* What it means for a woman to wear only herself, and why we need the stories of spiritually seeking women, especially those who are not ordinarily in the limelight Show Notes If you'd like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review, and thank you for supporting my work!You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoherArundhathi's latest book, which is available in the US via Amazon in e-book form, is Women Who Wear Only Themselves.  You can learn more about her at her website, https://arundhathisubramaniam.com/You can learn more about Arundhathi's spiritual teacher, Sadhguru, here: https://isha.sadhguru.org/us/enSri Balarishi is one of the women we discussed during this episode. You can learn more about her here: https://balarishi.org/ For more Sacred Feminine goodness and to stay up to date on all episodes, please follow me on Instagram: @hometoher.To dive into conversation about the Sacred Feminine, join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hometoher To go deeper in your Sacred Feminine explorations, check out the course offerings via Home to Her Academy: www.hometoheracademy.com And to read about the Sacred Feminine, check out my award-winning book Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine (Womancraft Publishing), available wherever you buy your books!. If you've read it, your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are greatly appreciated!

The first poem in Katie Farris' new book of poems, Standing in the Forest of Being Alive, ends with the stanza Why write love poetry in a burning world?/ To train myself, in the midst of a burning world/ to offer poems of love to a burning world. This poem, an arrow that sails though each poem in the collection, begins Farris' unflinching look at the details of her own cancer treatment and marriage in the midst of social and political unrest. The poems, intimate and immediate, tackle difficult subjects yet they're full of tenderness and humor. Join host Julie Murphy as she chats with Katie Farris about the poems, poetry and about her journey To train myself to find, in the midst of hell/ what isn't hell.  Katie Farris's most recent book, Standing in the Forest of Being Alive, from Alice James Books (US) and Liverpool University Press (UK), was shortlisted for the 2023 TS Eliot Prize and was listed as Publisher's Weekly's Top 10 Poetry Books for 2023. She's also the author of the hybrid-form text boysgirls (Marick Press, 2011; Tupelo Press 2019), and the co-translator of many works, including A Country in Which Everyone's Name is Fear, which was one of World Literature Today's Notable Books of 2022. She's a Pushcart Prize winner. She graduated with an MFA from Brown University, and is currently Visiting Associate Professor of Poetry at Princeton University.

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 TS Eliot Foundation for the best collection of the year. The winning book Self-Portrait as Othello by Jason Allen-Paisant also won the 2023 Forward Prize.

We are back and delighted to bring you more wonderful poetry in 2024.  So let's illuminate the new year with Tamar Yoseloff, whose  long engagement with visual art  has created a poetry that blazes out against a black backdrop. We'll hear poems from two Seren collections  A Formula for Night her New and Selected poems and  The Black Place (2019). Plus we will get a preview of her forthcoming collection Belief Systems from Nine Arches.And we discuss the highly impressive Self-Portrait as Othello Carcanet Poetry (2023) by Jason Allen-Paisant a deserved winner of this year's TS Eliot prize -- and talk about a little known scribbler called William Shakespeare.Photo of Tamar Yoseloff by Stephen Wells.Support the showPlanet Poetry is a labour of love, paid for out of our own pockets.If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support and Buy us a Coffee!

Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos talk about their award-winning film Poor Things, based on Alasdair Gray's novelJodie Comer is a new mother struggling to survive after an environmental catastrophe in another new film The End We Start From – Samira Ahmed talks to its director Mahalia Belo. The new joint artistic directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company Tamara Harvey and Daniel Evans have announced their inaugural season of productions – including a stage version of Hanif Kureishi's Buddha of Suburbia and Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet. And Jason Allen-Paisant who's won this year's TS Eliot Prize for Poetry, for his work Self Portrait As Othello.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Eliane Glaser

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 for the best collection of the year and the winner receives £25,000. Anthony Joseph was declared this year's winner by the judges for his 'luminous' collection Sonnets for Albert. Alongside readings from the poets themselves, Ian reflects how their work reverberates with the here and now, refreshing the language and giving us maps and signposts for these turbulent times. The shortlisted poets featured along with Anthony Joseph are Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Philip Gross, Denise Saul, Yomi Sode, Mark Pajak, Jemma Borg, James Conor Patterson, Zaffar Kunial and Fiona Benson. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

Over the last three weeks Front Row has broadcast a poem by each of the 10 writers shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry. The winner was announced last night: Anthony Joseph, for his collection Sonnets for Albert. Anthony talks to Samira Ahmed about his sequence of sonnets exploring his relationship with his often absent father, winning the prize and the attraction of the sonnet form. Research from the film charity Birds Eye View shows that the number of female made films released in UK cinemas fell by 6% last year. The charity's director Melanie Iredale and film director Sally El Hosaini discuss why women are failing to progress in the UK film industry. Books about witches and witchcraft are increasingly popular, with several new novels published this year. Authors Emilia Hart, Kirsty Logan and Anya Bergman, who have all written about witches, explain why this subject matter provided such a rich source of inspiration. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Olivia Skinner Image: Antony Julius, picture credit: Adrian Pope

Designer Steven Zapata and artist Anna Ridler discuss whether AI art poses a threat to artists and designers. Imagine reading more than 200 new books of poetry. That was the task faced by the judges of the T S Eliot Prize. Jean Sprackland and fellow judge Roger Robinson talk to Tom Sutcliffe about their experience and what they learned about the art of poetry today. It's the time of year when lovers of orchards, apples and cider gather to bless and encourage their trees. The tradition of wassailing is ancient, and modern too. Jim Causley from Whimple, Dartmoor, sings wassails old and new, and with artist Simon Pope talk about their project ‘Here's to Thee'. And in the latest of the poems shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize, Jemma Borg read her poem Marsh Thistle from her collection Wilder. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Paul Waters

The English composer William Byrd died 400 years ago. To mark this the acclaimed vocal ensemble Stile Antico is about to release an album of his music. Five of the twelve members of the ensemble come to the Front Row studio to sing and talk about Byrd's extraordinary and moving music. The author and founder of the Women's Prize for Fiction Kate Mosse and actor Julie T Wallace, who played Ruth in the BBC TV production of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, join Front Row to mark the work of writer Fay Weldon, whose death was announced today. Veteran director John Strickland talks about filming The Rig, a new 6-part big budget Amazon Prime eco-thriller set on an oil rig cut off from all communication in the North Sea. An ensemble cast of familiar faces from Line of Duty, Game of Thrones and Schitt's Creek contend with a mysterious deep-sea entity. And Zaffar Kunial reads his poem Brontë Taxis from his TS Eliot Prize-nominated collection England's Green. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Sarah Johnson Photograph of Stile Antico credit: Kaupo Kikkas

Poet Joelle Taylor won the Polari Prize last night and the TS Eliot Prize in January this year. Over a long career as a writer for the page and the stage she has explored butch lesbian counterculture and told the stories of the women in underground communities fighting for the right to be themselves. She joins Emma Barnett to explain how joining the literary establishment fits with a lifetime of protest. As Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Dominic Raab stands in for Prime Minister's Questions today, despite accusations of bullying, we look at how MPs and the macho culture of Westminster can be called to account without an ethics advisor, since Lord Geidt resigned earlier this year. Emma speaks to Pippa Crerar political editor of The Guardian and Christine Jardine, Liberal Democrat MP Edinburgh West, spokesperson for Cabinet Office, Women and Equalities and Scotland, who yesterday tabled a bill asking for parliament to appoint an ethics advisor if the conservative party fails to do so. We speak to director Sally El Hosaini about her new film The Swimmers which is based on the true story two Syrian sisters who fled Damascus in a dinghy boat in order to escape war and build a new life for themselves. One of those sisters, Yusra Mardini, will also be speaking to Emma Barnett about how she feels about her story being turned into a film. Fantasy Football is a hugely popular online game which requires building a make believe team of real world players who compete in the Premier League. But the growth of women managers has exceeded that of men in the last five years, rising by 112%. With the Premier League taking a break for the first ever winter World Cup, we explore the challenges early female participants of Fantasy Football have faced and what their participation in the game, and a growing interest in football, could have on the sport.

The Playcast is back!We return with the first episode of the season brining you an interview with Caroline Bird. Caroline is the writer of Red Ellen which arrives at Nottingham Playhouse on Weds 13th April. Get your tickets hereBioCaroline won The Forward Prize for best poetry collection in 2020. She was shortlisted for the Costa Prize 2020, the TS Eliot Prize 2017, the Ted Hughes Award 2017, and the Dylan Thomas Prize twice in 2008 and 2010. She was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2014. She has also won an Eric Gregory Award (2002) and the Foyle Young Poet of the Year award two years running (1999, 2000), and was a winner of the Poetry London Competition in 2007, the Peterloo Poetry Competition in 2004, 2003 and 2002. Caroline was on the shortlist for Shell Woman Of The Future Awards 2011.Caroline has had six collections of poetry published by Carcanet. Her first collection Looking Through Letterboxes (published in 2002 when she was only 15) is a topical, zesty and formally delightful collection of poems built on the traditions of fairy tale, fantasy and romance. Her second collection, Trouble Came to the Turnip, was published in September 2006 to critical acclaim. Watering Can, her third collection published in November 2009 celebrates life as an early twenty-something with comedy, wordplay and bright self-deprecation. Her fourth collection, The Hat-Stand Union, was described by Simon Armitage as ‘spring-loaded, funny, sad and deadly.' Her fifth collection, In These Days of Prohibition (published July 2017) was shortlisted for the 2017 TS Eliot Prize and the 2017 Ted Hughes Award. Her sixth collection, The Air Year was published in February 2020, and was book of the month in The Telegraph, book of the year in the Guardian, shortlisted for the Costa Prize, and winner of the Forward Prize.Bird's poems have been published in several anthologies and journals including Poetry Magazine, PN Review, Poetry Review and The North magazine. Several of her poems and a commissioned short story, Sucking Eggs, have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3. She was one of the five official poets at London Olympics 2012. Her poem, The Fun Palace, which celebrates the life and work of Joan Littlewood, is now erected on the Olympic Site outside the main stadium.In recent years, Caroline has given poetry performances at Aldeburgh Festival, Latitude Festival, the Manchester Literature Festival, the Wellcome Collection, the Royal Festival Hall, the Wordsworth Trust, Cheltenham Festival, and Ledbury Festival, amongst others.Caroline Bird began writing plays as a teenager when she was the youngest ever member of the Royal Court Young Writer's Programme, tutored by Simon Stephens. In 2011 Caroline was invited to take part in Sixty Six Books by the Bush Theatre. She wrote a piece inspired by Leviticus, directed by Peter Gill. In February 2012, her Beano-inspired musical, The Trial of Dennis the Menace was performed in the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre.Caroline's new version of The Trojan Women premiered at the Gate Theatre at the end of 2012 to wide critical acclaim. Caroline's plSupport the show (https://nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/support-us/donate/curtain-up-appeal/)

Another instalment this time with a poet so bloody brilliant it feels almost pointless to give her an introduction. She was named as one of Mslexia's ‘top ten' women poets of the decade, as well as being chosen as one of the Poetry Book Society's Next Generation poets. Her book ‘Burying the Wren' was published in 2012; it was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and a Times Literary Supplement book of the year. She has such a wealth of knowledge, I can honestly say I learnt a lot in this session! Today we talk about Wild Iris by Louise Gluck. Enjoy.

What if there is no language to describe what the body experiences? In this episode, I talk to Deryn Rees-Jones about poetry and illness. Deryn shares what it feels like being a poet and tackling the complexity of life. With her personal experience of Long Covid, she talks about the challenge of how to use language to describe the precarious state of the body and finding ways to connect with the experience of others. In this amazing conversation, we go deep into topics of the everyday that are at the same time fundamental to human existence. Poets try to find a bridge through language so that experience can be articulated, understood, and shared. Moving beyond illness, we look at poetry and intersectional feminism, the climate crisis – and war. As a special treat, Deryn reads two of her poems: “The Cure” and “Drone” - both are immensely powerful and scarily topical. Deryn Rees-Jones is a poet, an editor and a critic, as well as a professor of creative writing at the University of Liverpool. In 2004, Deryn was named as one of Mslexia's ‘top ten' women poets of the decade. In 2010 she received a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors. Deryn's most recent book of poems, 'Erato', published in 2019, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and shortlisted for The Welsh Book of the Year and the TS Eliot Prize in 2019. You can find her poem ‘The Cure' here You can read '14 Little Pieces on Love' here ‘Drone' is one of the poem in ‘Erato' --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michaela-mahlberg/message

Discovery with CN LesterHow do we keep fighting when there seems to be no hope? CN Lester is a musician, academic, activist and author of Trans Like Me and they tell Lucy Scholes the best advice they've been given for continuing to work in the face of backlash. Join their fascinating conversation on their discovery of women composers of the Italian Baroque (who should never have been forgotten!), their newfound love for Ursula K Le Guin (who should have won a Nobel Prize!), and their deeply personal joy in the poetry of Joelle Taylor (who has won the TS Eliot Prize!). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ian McMillan presents poets reading from all the collections shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize, awarded by the T.S. Eliot Foundation for the best collection of the past year, and gives his take on the year in poetry. This is a special edition of the show recorded at the annual prize reading at the Royal Festival Hall in London (hosted by Ian) a day before the announcement of the winner - Joelle Taylor. Ian celebrates the impact and achievement of Joelle's collection 'C+nto' and of the other shortlisted collections. Poets featured: Jack Underwood Hannah Lowe Daniel Sluman Kevin Young Victoria Kennefick Ruth Padel reading the work of Selima Hill Raymond Antrobus Kayo Chingonyi Michael Symmons Roberts Joelle Taylor

We talk to Joelle Taylor fresh from her win last night of the 2021 TS Eliot Prize for Poetry for her collection of poems which explores her life as a lesbian. 2022 has three big cultural events in store: Unboxed, the Birmingham Arts Festival marking the Commonwealth Games and the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Samira is joined by the man behind two of them, Chief Creative Officer Martin Green. We also hear from BBC News Culture Editor Katie Razzall, to unpack Unboxed, once dubbed the Festival of Brexit. And Folk, currently playing at the Hampstead Theatre chronicles Cecil Sharp's mission to preserve England's rural folk music. Writer, Nell Leyshon and director, Roxana Silbert discuss the process of adapting this real life history for the stage. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Simon Richardson

Becoming a parent is impossible to prepare for. Jack Underwood describes “feeling that there should have been more paperwork. We signed a form or two and then they just sort of let us take you away. A human child”.  Parenthood changes our relationships, our view of the world, our sense of self. It's rare in the whirlwind of night wakings and nappies, though, that anyone has the time to sit down and think about what exactly it is that's happened to them.  In this episode, Andrew talks to Jack Underwood, a poet, writer and critic, about how and why he writes about fatherhood, his interest in the concept of uncertainty, and the complexities of modern masculinity.  Jack Underwood lives and works in London. As well as being a poet and author, he works as a senior lecturer in creative writing at Goldsmiths University of London. His most recent collection of poetry is A Year in the New Life, which in October 2021 was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Jack Underwood is also the author of Not Even This, a meditation on the theme of uncertainty inspired by his anxieties about becoming a parent. His 2015 debut collection of poetry, Happiness, won the Somerset Maugham Award.  Follow Up Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50. Read A Year in the New Life or Not Even This: Poetry, parenthood & living uncertainly or Happiness by Jack Underwood Follow Jack Underwood on Twitter and Instagram @jundermilkwood Get Andrew's advice on creating change in your life and relationships in his book Wake Up and Change Your Life: How to Survive a Crisis and Be Stronger, Wiser and Happier If you're a lover of poetry, you could also listen to Andrew's interview with Brighton poet John McCullough on Seven Ways Poetry Could Make Your Life Richer, Deeper and More Meaningful Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall 

A Northern Irish writer - what does that label mean? Lucy Caldwell compares notes with Caroline Magennis about the way authors are charting change and setting down experience - from working class memoirs of life in Derry to the poetry of Seamus Heaney, Sinéad Morrissey and others. And as we approach the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland, Anne McElvoy talks to Roy Foster and Charles Townshend about the history and legacy of partition. Charles Townshend is Professor Emeritus of International History at Keele University, and Roy Foster is Professor and Honorary Fellow at Hertford College, University of Oxford. Amongst other titles, Roy Foster is the author of Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890-1923, and Charles Townshend's new book is The Partition: Ireland Divided, 1885-1925. Lucy Caldwell's new book is called Intimacies and is published in May, and she has also edited Being Various: New Irish Short Stories. In the interview she recommends books including the writing of Mary Beckett, The Glass Shore: Short Stories by Woman Writers from the North of Ireland edited by Sinéad Gleeson, and Inventory: A River, A City, A Family by Darran Anderson. Caroline Magennis is Reader in 20th and 21st Century Literature at the University of Salford, and her upcoming publication, Northern Irish Writing After the Troubles: Intimacies, Affects, Pleasures, will be available in August. Producer: Emma Wallace If you want more conversations with writers from Northern Ireland you can find the following episodes on the Free Thinking website: Sinéad Morrissey on winning the TS Eliot Prize in 2014 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pdf10 Michael Longley talks about his poetry and winning the PEN Pinter prize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b098hz1m Bernard MacClaverty talks to Anne McElvoy about depicting love and loss in a long relationship in his novel Midwinter Break - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09525cn Ruth Dudley Edwards looks at ideas about belonging - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h2g4 Roy Foster and Paul Muldoon are in conversation - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b050xpsd

Earmarked as ‘the voice of our communal consciousness’ by Edinburgh International Book Festival’s 2018 Guest Selector Afua Hirsch, it’s hard to believe that Roger Robinson hasn’t been a staple of British public life since time immemorial. A fixture of the UK spoken word scene for many years, Robinson rocketed to national prominence in 2019 when his third poetry collection, A Portable Paradise, bagged the prestigious T S Eliot Prize. Firmly rooted in the dub poetry tradition of his Trinidadian heritage, Robinson’s plain-speaking, fizzy, often joyous verse journeys through our contemporary preoccupations with a seasoned insight few could replicate. From the ongoing injustices of Grenfell to the pains and pleasures of family life, he unpacks the cosmos of ideas that make up A Portable Paradise with fellow poet Kei Miller in this event recorded for the 2020 Book Festival.

Choreographer Jonzi D has created a new work for Dancing Nation, the all-day digital festival of dance which is streamed on BBC iPlayer this Thursday. Jonzi discusses the state of Black dance with Pawlet Brookes, who runs Serendipity in Leicester and has edited the collection of essays My Voice, My Practice: Black Dance. In the light of the announcement that Kenneth Branagh has been cast to play Boris Johnson in a new TV drama about the Covid-19 crisis, critic, journalist and former political researcher Sam Delaney joins Samira to talk about the impact of dramatisations of contemporary political moments on the public imagination. Last night Bhanu Kapil won the TS Eliot Prize for her collection How to Wash a Heart. She talks to Samira about and reads from her book which, in the voice of an immigrant guest in the house of a citizen host, explores the idea, and limits, of hospitality, and the experiences of diaspora people. For his Moment of Joy, the writer Darran Anderson chooses a scene from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, an exploration of mortality that is nonetheless deeply life-affirming. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Jerome Weatherald Studio Manager: Tim Heffer Main image above: Jonzi D Image credit: Dave Barros

This is a remarkable story of how a young Englishman came to learn about the Baha'i Faith and what he achieved before his life was tragically cut short less than one year later. It tells of the circumstances and glorious insights that 'Abdu'l-Baha Revealed confirming what His 'dear Breakwell' had achieved in the path of his Lord. This story, of the first English Believer, will touch and amaze hearts. Arlette Manasseh is a writer with a background in theatre. Her career was launched when she was selected for an award-based training at the Royal National Theatre Studio from which she went on to win the Genesis Prize for New Directors. She has worked with performing artists across disciplines including Roger Robinson for a national tour prior leading to 'A Portable Paradise' (2019) and won the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry and the Ondaatje Prize in 2020. Recently, Arlette began storytelling to share the rich history and lessons of the Baha'i Faith with the friends. She is also offering a free short storytelling course in February 2021 for anyone interested to learn how to tell stories that draw our hearts closer to 'Abdu'l-Baha. To view the video visit the YouTube channel https://youtu.be/JOmEDZYjF80

The White Tiger is a new Netflix film based on Aravind Adiga’s 2008 Booker Prize-winning novel, directed by Ramin Bahrani. It explores Indian society and how hard it can be to climb the social ladder, as Balram, played by Adarsh Gourav, struggles to advance even when he has found rich employers. For our Friday review, writer Abir Mukherjee and film critic and host of the Girls on Film podcast Anna Smith give their verdict, and reflect on the week that saw 22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman perform The Hill We Climb at President Biden’s inauguration. Every year one of the first literary events is the T. S. Eliot Prize readings, when each of the 10 shortlisted poets performs to a packed Royal Festival Hall. But this year the The South Bank Centre is streaming the poets' readings instead. The winner will be announced immediately afterwards. Chair of the judges Lavinia Greenlaw discusses this year's shortlist. Denise Dutton discusses her commission to sculpt the statue of Mary Anning, the 19th-century fossil hunter from Lyme Regis. The statue of the pioneer of palaeontology was crowdfunded by a campaign started by 13-year-old Evie Swire. Denise, who has also made statues of suffragettes and the Women's Land Army, considers the role played by statues in bringing overlooked women to public attention. Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Timothy Prosser

In today's Pickle Jar we are joined by the brilliant Anthony Anaxagorou. His recent collection After the Formalities (Penned in the Margins, 2019) was nominated for a TS Eliot Prize. In today's episode he shall be bringing in a little known poem by Robin Beth Schaer called Holdfast. check out the poem here : https://poets.org/poem/holdfast

This week on Fortunately, Fi and Jane welcome along BBC Radio 5Live's Elis James and John Robins. The Friday afternoon presenters and hosts of the How Do You Cope? podcast chat to Fi and Jane. The four of them discuss the changes to supermarket shopping, football behind closed doors, former TS Eliot Prize winners and the best way to dry your towels. Before Elis and John arrive Fi and Jane consider ways to cheer up the nation and ruminate on the possibility of alien life forms. Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk

Dub poet Roger Robinson, winner of this year's prestigious TS Eliot prize talks us through his early influences, the inspiration behind his poetry and his collaborations with electronic musician The Bug, as part of the brilliant King Midas Sound. Roger won the TS Eliot Prize for his collection of poetry titled, 'A Portable Paradise', which tackle themes such as racism and events such as the Grenfell Tower fire, as well as exploring the idea of paradise and searching for it throughout life.

Michael B Jordan and Jamie Foxx on their new film Just Mercy, the story of one of America’s great miscarriages of justice. Michael plays lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who takes up the case of Walter McMillian, a man placed on death row for the 1986 murder of a woman in Alabama, even though there was no credible evidence linking him to the crime. As a register for actors’ profiles, Spotlight describes itself as the 'home of stage and screen casting', but is it a home that is equally welcoming to all potential members in the acting industry? In the light of recent public criticism about its inclusivity for older actors, Helen Raw - who runs the British Actors Network - discusses Spotlight’s joining criteria and the changes she would like the organisation to make. The shortlist for the 2019 T.S. Eliot Prize was announced last night and - at a time when the The Baftas and the Oscars are being criticised for being too white and too male - the poetry world has proved itself to be far more progressive than the cinema. The list comprised 4 women, one trans non binary and five men. The poet taking away the £25,000 cheque this year is Roger Robinson, who won for his collection A Portable Paradise. He talks to Samira Ahmed about his work that moves from black history to Grenfell, the Windrush and the NHS, along with poems about his family and personal life. The poet Roddy Lumsden died last Friday. As well as his own work he was respected as organiser, teacher and mentor whose influence on recent poetry in Britain is profound. The writer Katy Evans-Bush, who knew him for 20 years, pays tribute. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones

Earlier this year, when Hannah Sullivan won the biggest prize in the poetry world, the TS Eliot Prize, the chair of the judges announced: “A star is born. Where has she come from?” Such a prestigious prize is a rare honour, as the book, Three Poems, was Hannah Sullivan’s first published collection. Up until then, she’d established a successful academic career, studying at Cambridge, teaching at Harvard and for the last seven years at New College Oxford, where she’s an Associate Professor of English. In Private Passions, Hannah Sullivan talks to Michael Berkeley about the time in New York which inspired her prize-winning poems, and why she wanted to capture what it’s like to be alone and vulnerable in a strange city. She reads from a new poem about Grenfell Tower, which will be published next year. And she reveals a passion for Nina Simone. Other music choices include Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier”, the Dvorak Cello Concerto, the Schubert String Quintet, and a setting of a poem by Thomas Campion so perfect she wishes she’d written it: “What is love but mourning?” A Loftus production for BBC Radio 3 Produced by Elizabeth Burke

This week The Verb comes from The Hay Festival, recorded in front of an audience at the BBC Tent. Ian's guests are the writer John Lanchester on his new dystopian novel 'The Wall' (Faber), poet Hannah Sullivan who recently won the TS Eliot Prize for her debut collection 'Three Poems' (Faber), comedian and 'Mash Report' star Rachel Parris on the art of the musical parody and Nina Stibbe whose novel 'Reasons to Be Cheerful was awarded The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Jessica Treen

Join former High Court justice Michael Kirby and Geoffrey Lehmann for the launch of Leeward: A Memoir (NewSouth) at the CIS. Geoffrey Lehmann has been one of Australia's leading poets and tax lawyers for several decades. A partner of PwC and chairman of the Australian Tax Research Foundation, he was involved in the design of Australia's GST and other tax legislation. He was also short-listed for the T S Eliot Prize. His poetry has appeared in the New Yorker and in 2015 his Poems 1957-2013 won the Prime Minister's Literary Award (Poetry). His Australian Poetry Since 1788, co-edited with Robert Gray, was one of The Economist's best books of 2011. In his frank memoir, Geoffrey describes how he was the late child of a bookish mother and a working-class father. Much to his mother's surprise, his father, who was a launch driver, bought three houses on the waterfront at McMahons Point and became a slum landlord in the era of rent control. As a 10-year-old child, reading the begging letters from dozens of would-be tenants, Geoffrey became an economic rationalist and an atheist. Follow the CIS on Twitter @CISOZ or find us on Facebook 'The Centre for Independent Studies' for more updates. cis.org.au

The Verb this week is an extended conversation with the poet, editor, mentor, teacher and aphorist Don Paterson. Don Paterson first came to prominence in the early 90s, winning the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection for ‘Nil Nil' in 1993. The following year he was selected as one of the Poetry Society's ‘New Generation Poets' alongside contemporaries such as Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Kathleen Jamie and his friend and mentor Michael Donaghy. He has published nine collections of poems, two of which have been awarded the TS Eliot Prize; God's Gift to Women in 1997, and again in 2003 for Landing Light. He was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010. He also teaches at the University of St Andrews and is the Poetry editor at Picador. In a 45-minute conversation, Ian takes a forensic look at Don Paterson's language map. They discuss the concept of the ‘true poem, the relationship between inspiration and spontaneity, where the impulse to write a poem comes from – and when to give up on a poem. We hear a close examination of poetic language as Don considers ‘the dance between vowels and consonants', the weight of an ending, his love of an ellipsis. Don also explains why he dislikes poems set to music, and why you shouldn't worry too much about your poetic voice… Don Paterson's latest publication is his book of New and Collected Aphorisms, ‘The Fall at Home'. This book, and all his collections of poetry are published by Faber. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

In this special episode, Southbank Centre literature team's Ted Hodgkinson and Debo Amon turn their focus to the TS Eliot Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the poetry calendar. Listen to extracts from the nominated poets’ collections read by the nominees, and, fresh from the 2019 ceremony, Debo shares reaction from the event, including an interview with the winner, Hannah Sullivan. Plus the pair discuss the themes and the nerves of this year’s competition as well as asking if 2019 is the year of the debut collection? 'Very often collections have an overarching narrative, or approach a particular subject… however this is a very uncategorisable series of poems, because it really does encompass universal and gigantic themes which have run across literature'. 'Very often collections have an overarching narrative, or approach a particular subject… however this is a very uncategorisable series of poems, because it really does encompass universal and gigantic themes which have run across literature'. Ted Hodgkinson on Hannah Sullivan’s Three Poems

Octavian, the winner of BBC Music's Sound of 2019 announced on Friday, is a true rags-to-riches story. The French-born rapper discusses how, after a turbulent upbringing which saw him homeless for some of his teenage years, he has gone on to make his mark on the scene and how music has always been a driving force for him.Seven years since TV series The Killing's final episode, its creator, Danish writer Søren Sveistrup, is publishing a crime thriller, The Chestnut Man, his first novel. Søren tells Stig how he moved from the cult detective Sarah Lund to create new detectives for the novel.Minutes after the announcement is made, live from the award ceremony Front Row brings you the first interview with the winner of the £25,000 T. S. Eliot Prize for the best collection of poetry published last year. This is the UK's most prestigious poetry prize, the one poets aspire to win, the one judged only by other poets. Only Fools -The (Cushty) Dining Experience, is the latest comedy theatre tribute version of the BBC's well-known television sitcom, Only Fools and Horses, to open in the UK. But it's been reported that the producers behind Only Fools and Horses: The Musical which premieres next month, have complained that such tribute versions may cross moral and legal lines. Theatre critic Paul Vale and Intellectual Property barrister Guy Tritton discuss the issues raised by these tribute productions.Presenter Stig Abell Producer Jerome Weatherald

Join Ian McMillan as he comperes a special evening of some of the very best poetry published over the last year - at the annual T.S.Eliot Prize readings, recorded in front of an audience at the Royal Festival Hall. All the short-listed poets will be featured, including the U.S. Laureate Tracy K Smith, Terrance Hayes, Nick Laird, Zaffar Kunial, Fiona Moore, Sean O'Brien, Ailbhe Darcy, Hannah Sullivan, Richard Scott and Phoebe Power.

A car race around Australia is fictionalised in Peter Carey's latest novel. He talks to Rana Mitter about depicting race and racing. Josephine Quinn questions whether the Phoenicians existed as she looks at the way ancient texts and artworks helped construct an identity for the ancient civilization on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, stretching through what is now Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel. Classicist and novelist Natalie Haynes discusses Ovid's tales and Rana Mitter speaks to this year's TS Eliot Prize winner Ocean Vuong.Peter Carey's latest novel is called A Long Way Home.Josephine Quinn has published In Search of the Phoenicians. Natalie Haynes most recent novel is called The Children of Jocasta. Radio 3's The Essay this week consists of five retellings of Ovid. Ocean Vuong's Night Sky with Exit Wounds is out now.Producer: Debbie Kilbride

Annie Freud is a poet, artist and teacher. Her first full poetry collection (Picador 2007), The Best Man That Ever Was received the Dimplex Award for New Writing (Poetry). The Mirabelles, her second collection (Picador 2011) was a Poetry Book Society Choice and was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Her most recent collection The Remains includes her own illustrations. Francesca Melandri was born in Rome in 1964. After many years screenwriting her literary debut was in 2010 with Eva Sleeps, a critically acclaimed bestseller translated in most European languages and now published in English by Europa Editions. Her second novel Higher Than The Sea (2012) confirmed her standing among readers and literary critics. She continues in documentary filmmaker and has two children. Inspired by Conversations Before The End Of Time by Suzi Gablik. Conversations In Time was recorded and Distributed as part of European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017.

It's not so much about imagery or language as it is about longing for that human connection. It's imagining yourself into another life in order to connect with it and be less isolated. And that is the case in my poetry as well - imagination is a way of reaching other people. — Polly Clark Sean Robinson met with Polly Clark at Toppings bookshop, after her appearance at the School of Night, where she read from her novel Larchfield. They discussed the difference between writing a novel and writing a poem, as well as the roles of imagination and location in the writing process. Polly also read her poem 'Heaven' (at 14m55s). Polly Clark was born in Toronto and lives in Helensburgh on Scotland’s west coast, close to where W.H. Auden wrote The Orators. She is Literature Programme Producer for Cove Park, Scotland’s International Artist Residency Centre, and the author of three poetry collections. She won the MsLexia Prize for Larchfield, the Eric Gregory Award, and has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Larchfield will be published by Quercus under their riverrun imprint March 2017. Her pamphlet A Handbook for the Afterlife was shortlisted in the 2016 Michael Marks Awards and a volume of New and Selected Poems, Afterlife, is due in 2018. Sean Robinson is studying for a masters in poetry writing at St. Andrews under Don Paterson. An estwhile policy wonk, he graduated in 2013 from Oxford with a bachelors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and worked for some time with the Civil Service, until deciding to chuck it all in to do something useful, and write poems. He is from London. Lessons from the School of Night are an irregular series of video or audio interviews and tips from poets and writers who visit St Andrews. The School of Night – inspired by the group which included Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh – is Topping & Company Booksellers' Year-Round Poetry Festival in St Andrews. Curated with the help of Don Paterson and playing host to poets as varied as Paul Muldoon and Lorraine Mariner, Simon Armitage and Annie Freud, it is anchored to a regular fixture on the last Tuesday of the month. The School of Night offers the chance to explore and discuss the work of some of the best poets on the contemporary scene. For more details on these and other events, please visit the Topping & Company website. Photo Credit: Johnny Adolphson, http://johnny-adolphson.pixels.com/

Following the casting of Tilda Swinton as a character originally identified as Tibetan in the recent film Dr Strange, and the furore surrounding the casting of a new production of Howard Barker's play, In The Depths of Dead Love - Kumiko Mendl, Artistic Director of Yellow Earth Theatre, and Deborah Williams, Executive Director of Creative Diversity Network join Samira to discuss the issue of 'Yellowface' - the practice of non-Asian actors playing Asian roles. Sarah Crompton reviews the film Jackie, directed by Pablo Lorrain and starring Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy, which focuses on the immediate aftermath of JFK's assassination in 1963. The Transports is a ballad opera telling the true story of two convicts who fell in love in prison as they were waiting to be sent on the First Fleet to Australia. They had a child, were cruelly separated, but thanks to a kind gaoler, were eventually united. It was recorded in 1977 by giants of the folk world - June Tabor, Nic Jones, Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson. 40 years on a new generation of folk stars - Nancy Kerr, Faustus, the Young'Uns - are touring their new production. Samira meets them as they rehearse and finds The Transports has plenty to say about exile and migration today.Britain's most prestigious award for poetry, the TS Eliot Award, is announced this evening. The prize is for the best collection of poems published in 2016, and Front Row will have the first interview with the winner. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.

Michael Berkeley welcomes the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, as his Private Passions. The first woman, the first Scot, and the first openly gay person to hold the post, she was appointed in 2009, having won many awards for her poetry collections since taking first prize in the National Poetry Competition in 1983. Most recently, 'Rapture' (2005) won the TS Eliot Prize, and her latest collection, 'The Bees', won the 2011 Costa Book Award for Poetry. Born into a Roman Catholic family in the Gorbals, a poor area of Glasgow, Carol Ann developed a passionate love of literature at school, and for a decade from the age of 16 she lived with the Liverpool poet Adrian Henri. She had two plays performed at the Liverpool Playhouse and received an honours degree in phoilosophy from the University of Liverpool. In 1996 she was appointed a lecturer in poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University and later became creative director of its Writing School. She was appointed Poet Laureate in 2009. Her work as laureate includes poems on the MPs' expenses scandal, the deaths of the last British servicemen who fought in World War I, David Beckham's tendon injury, and the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. Her poems, which explore everyday experience and a rich fantasy life, are on the school curriculum in the UK. A keen music-lover, Carol Ann Duffy learnt the piano as a child. Her choices include Chopin's E major Etude Op.10 No.3, which her mother loved to hear her playing; extracts from Mozart's 'Marriage of Figaro' and and Christy Moore singing a song with words by W B Yeats. This edition, first broadcast in June 2012, is part of Radio 3's celebration of British music - Private Passions' guests this month are four poets from across the UK.

We were thrilled to open the 2016 Festival with two of the most powerful young voices in British poetry. Sarah Howe's debut collection Loop of Jade won the 2016 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry and was described as ‘original, exquisite, erudite and adventurous.’ Stirling-born William Letford has been dubbed by Guardian critic Nicholas Lezard as 'the new Scottish genius'. He launched his highly anticipated second collection, Dirt. Recorded live at the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Everyone's a critic in this month's podcast. Alex Clark and Will Rycroft get tips from London's booksellers on the hot titles to look out for this year as well as mentioning a few themselves including the new novel from Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time. Sarah Howe gives fascinating insight into her poetry collection, A Loop of Jade, fresh from winning the TS Eliot Prize. And D J Taylor discusses the literary landscape from Grub Street to Bloggers with plenty of opinion along the way. Download and immerse yourself in the world of books.Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/vintagebooksSign up to our bookish newsletter to hear all about our new releases, see exclusive extracts and win prizes: po.st/vintagenewsletterJulian Barnes - The Noise of Time In May 1937 a man in his early thirties waits by the lift of a Leningrad apartment block. He waits all through the night, expecting to be taken away to the Big House. Any celebrity he has known in the previous decade is no use to him now. And few who are taken to the Big House ever return.Sarah Howe - Loop of JadeThere is a Chinese proverb that says: ‘It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters.’ But geese, like daughters, know the obligation to return home. In her exquisite first collection, Sarah Howe explores a dual heritage, journeying back to Hong Kong in search of her roots.With extraordinary range and power, the poems build into a meditation on hybridity, intermarriage and love – what meaning we find in the world, in art, and in each other. Crossing the bounds of time, race and language, this is an enthralling exploration of self and place, of migration and inheritance, and introduces an unmistakable new voice in British poetry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Phil Redmond made his name as the creator of celebrated television drama series Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks. He's now turned his attention to crime fiction with his new novel, Highbridge.Sarah Howe has won the 2015 TS Eliot Prize for her debut collection Loop of Jade, an intimate exploration of her Anglo-Chinese heritage though her journeys to Hong Kong to discover her roots. This is the first time a debut collection has won the prize.Choreographer Akram Khan discusses his new production Until the Lions based on a story from the epic Hindu poem The Mahabharata.The Saatchi Gallery in London, which launched the likes of Tracey Emin and Paula Rego, is about to mark its 30th anniversary. Champagne Life is its first all-female exhibition. Andrea Rose reviews it and discusses whether the gallery is still influential today.Producer: Dixi Stewart.

We're starting the New Year on a high. This month, The Line Break listens in on the wonderful Mark Doty, poet and author of Deep Lane, recently nominated for the T S Eliot Prize. And back with two more poetry sparks, Ryan has you writing transcendentally about the mundane, and exploring the things you shouldn't say. Listeners to The Line Break can also join the The Line Break group on CAMPUS, the Poetry School’s free online community for poets. http://campus.poetryschool.com Produced by Culture Laser Productions http://www.culturelaser.com @culturelaser

As part of Radio 3's Northern Lights season the award-winning poet John Burnside explores his fascination with the Sámi landscapes of Finnmark in northern Norway, reflecting on how they're shaped by ice as much as rock.Winner of both the 2011 TS Eliot Prize for Poetry and the Forward Prize, John Burnside has returned time and again to find out more about the resilient culture of the Sámi people of northern Scandinavia. Here, he considers the wild beauty of Sámiland (or Lapland), describing a region at such variance with the Santa-themed tourism flogged to visitors. Producer: Mark Smalley.

The Scottish poet Robert Crawford and fellow-TS Eliot biographer, Lyndall Gordon join Anne McElvoy to work out Eliot's enduring power and appeal while the winner of this year's TS Eliot prize, David Harsent also takes a bow. Allan Ropper a US neurologist, talks about the mixture of intuition and medical knowledge that every brain doctor needs. He is joined by Brian Hurwitz, Professor of Medicine and the Arts at King's College London to discuss the role of case histories over time and new importance being attached to narrative medicine.

Philip Gross was born in 1952 in Cornwall, and grew up in Plymouth. With a Cornish mother and an Estonian father, Gross has emerged as one of the greatest poetic voices of displacement, conveying what Terry Eagleton views as “lost bearings and blurred frontiers” (Independent on Sunday). He won an Eric Gregory Award in 1981 and, in the following year, won the National Poetry Competition. He was recently awarded the TS Eliot Prize for his collection The Water Table (Bloodaxe, 2009). His other collections for adults include Familiars (Peterloo, 1983), The Ice Factory (Faber, 1984), Cat’s Whisker (Faber, 1987), The Son of the Duke of Nowhere (Faber, 1991), I.D. (Faber, 1994), The Wasting Game (Bloodaxe, 1998), Changes of Address: Poems 1980-1998 (Bloodaxe, 2001), Mappa Mundi (Bloodaxe, 2003) and The Egg of Zero (Bloodaxe, 2006).

It's been 15 years since Hugo Williams won the TS Eliot Prize for Billy's Rain, a collection that captured a certain amount of journalistic interest for its unvarnished depiction of an affair. His latest collection, I Knew The Bride, has also been nominated for the TS Eliot Prize (as well as the Forward), although it's subject matter is a little darker, taking in the death of his sister and his own kidney failure, which requires him to spend a significant amount of time every week on dialysis. We were lucky to spend time with the poet when he was up for the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August. He talks about the influence of popular music on his work, mortality, and what Hardy was doing with Shelley's heart.

Taking Rilke's classic correspondence as inspiration, five leading poets write a personal letter to a young poet. Today, Pakistan-born Moniza Alvi.The original Letters to a Young Poet is a compilation of letters by Rainer Maria Rilke, written between 1902 and 1908 to a 19-year-old officer cadet called Franz Kappus. Kappus was trying to choose between a literary career and entering the Austro-Hungarian army. Rilke's letters touch on poetry and criticism, but they range widely in subject matter from atheism and loneliness, to friendship and sexuality:"If your everyday life seems to lack material, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to summon up its riches; for there is no lack for him who creates and no poor, trivial place."In their new letters, five poets imagine a young poet protégé to whom they want to pass on life experience and thoughts about the poetic art.Our poets are: Michael Symmons Roberts, Vicki Feaver, Michael Longley, Moniza Alvi and Don Paterson.About Moniza Alvi: Moniza Alvi was born in Pakistan and grew up in Hertfordshire. Her latest book are At the Time of Partition (Bloodaxe Books, 2013) which is shortlisted for the 2013 T S Eliot Prize. Other recent books include her book-length poem; Homesick for the Earth, her versions of the French poet Jules Supervielle (Bloodaxe Books, 2011); Europa (Bloodaxe Books, 2008); and Split World: Poems 1990-2005 (Bloodaxe Books, 2008), which includes poems from her five previous collections.

Sinead Morrissey is the winner of this year's T S Eliot Prize for her anthology Parallax. She performs her poems and talks to Anne McElvoy about her role as Belfast's first Poet Laureate. As a new wall is built between Bulgaria and Turkey to deter immigrants Anne explores the way governments use walls to control people's movements and the political and architectural impact of walls as both barriers and gateways. And as Radio 3's Drama on 3 is given over to a new adaptation of The Oresteia, Aeschylus' classic trilogy about murder, revenge and justice, playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz - whose new version of The Furies is the final episode, and classicist Edith Hall discuss the tragedies and their modern relevance.

Taking Rilke's classic correspondence as inspiration, five leading poets write a personal letter to a young protégé. Today, to coincide with the announcement of the T S Eliot Prize, one of the prize's judges, Vicki Feaver, writes a letter to a young woman poet.The original Letters to a Young Poet is a compilation of letters by Rainer Maria Rilke, written between 1902 and 1908 to a 19-year-old officer cadet called Franz Kappus. Kappus was trying to choose between a literary career and entering the Austro-Hungarian army. Rilke's letters touch on poetry and criticism, but they range widely in subject matter from atheism and loneliness, to friendship and sexuality:"If your everyday life seems to lack material, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to summon up its riches; for there is no lack for him who creates and no poor, trivial place."In their new letters, five poets imagine a young poet protégé to whom they want to pass on life experience and thoughts about the poetic art.Our poets are: Michael Symmons Roberts, Vicki Feaver, Michael Longley, Moniza Alvi and Don Paterson.About Vicki Feaver: Vicki Feaver has published three collections of poetry, Close Relatives (Secker 1981), The Handless Maiden (Cape 1994) and The Book of Blood (Cape 2006), both short-listed for the Forward Prize Best Collection, with The Book of Blood also shortlisted for the 2006 Costa (formerly Whitbread) Poetry Book Award. Her poem 'Judith' won the Forward Prize for the Best Single Poem. She lives in Scotland.

Taking Rilke's classic correspondence as inspiration, five leading poets write a personal letter to a young poet. Today, to coincide with the announcement of the T S Eliot Prize, shortlisted poet Michael Symmons Roberts writes a letter about poetry that dares the depths.The original Letters to a Young Poet is a compilation of letters by Rainer Maria Rilke, written between 1902 and 1908 to a 19-year-old officer cadet called Franz Kappus. Kappus was trying to choose between a literary career and entering the Austro-Hungarian army. Rilke's letters touch on poetry and criticism, but they range widely in subject matter from atheism and loneliness, to friendship and sexuality:"If your everyday life seems to lack material, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to summon up its riches; for there is no lack for him who creates and no poor, trivial place."In their new letters, five poets imagine a young poet protégé to whom they want to pass on life experience and thoughts about the poetic art.Our poets are: Michael Symmons Roberts, Vicki Feaver, Michael Longley, Moniza Alvi and Don Paterson.About Michael Symmons Roberts: Roberts's latest collection Drysalter (Cape 2013) won the 2013 Forward Prize and is on the shortlist for both the T S Eliot Prize and the Costa Poetry Award. He is a leading poet, librettist, novelist, radio dramatist and broadcaster. Previous collections include The Half-Healed, Corpus and Burning Babylon.First broadcast in January 2014.

With John Wilson. The Coen brothers discuss their latest film, Inside Llewyn Davis, which follows a young folk musician, played by Oscar Isaac, as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961 trying to make it as a solo artist. Ethan and Joel Coen, whose directorial repertoire includes No Country for Old Men and The Big Lebowski, explain how far the characters in their latest work are inspired by the real musical figures of this folk period, and the casting challenges for a film which features full live performances by its actors, who include Carey Mulligan, John Goodman and Justin Timberlake. Leonardo DiCaprio won a Golden Globe this week for his performance as real-life rogue trader Jordan Belfort in The Wolf Of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese. Critic Catherine Bray delivers her verdict. The Pass is a topical new play about homosexuality and homophobia in football, centring on the complicated relationship between two Premier League players. John talks to its writer John Donnelly. The T S Eliot Prize for Poetry will be awarded this evening to the author of the best new collection of poetry published in the UK or Ireland. This year's shortlist includes 90-year-old Dannie Abse for his collection Speak, Old Parrot, 28-year-old Helen Mort for Division Street as well as Daljit Nagra for his re-telling of the Ramayana. John Wilson talks to the winner, live from the ceremony. Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.

Frances Leviston’s Public Dream was published by Picador in 2007 and shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and the Jerwood-Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. www.mptmagazine.com

Possessing a friendship that spans the Atlantic, Scotland's John Burnside and America's Allison Funk are captured in conversation, speaking about what they enjoy about each other's country, from poetry and music to the mutability of the landscape and people. Allison Funk is the author of four volumes of verse, the most recent of which is The Tumbling Box (2009). John Burnside's latest, Black Cat Bone (2011), is one of only two titles to have won both the Forward Prize and the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry. In a conversation that runs from delta blues to Virginia Woolf, Funk and Allison explain the way in which they've influenced each other's work while still being 'opposite sides of the same coin'.

With Kirsty Lang. When poet Sharon Olds' husband told her he was leaving her, she took out her notebook and started writing. Her new volume, Stag's Leap, charts the death of that marriage in a collection of poems now shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize for Poetry. Sharon Olds is known for being a poet of the personal, and she joins Kirsty to discuss her latest revelations. A black female lead character is a rare sight in television, which is why Scandal - a new drama from the US about political corruption - has attracted attention. It stars Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, a crisis-management expert in Washington DC, and is loosely based on Judy Smith, former press aide to President George H. W. Bush. Gaylene Gould reviews. Elena, a new film from Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, won the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize earlier this year. Elena is forced to fight for an inheritance from her wealthy husband, in a modern take on the classic noir. Author A D Miller, a former Moscow correspondent for The Economist, discusses what the film tells us about contemporary Russia. Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of the band Squeeze are preparing to tour the UK next month. Following each performance they will be behind the counter of their Pop-Up Shop, where they'll be selling recordings of that evening's concert. Tilbrook and Difford discuss this new venture, the first music they've written together for 14 years, and what it's like to sing the old hits more than 30 years on. Producer Rebecca Nicholson.

Don Paterson was the twentieth poet in the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library Reading Series and read in 2012. Don Paterson is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Rain (Faber, 2009; FSG, 2010). He has published two books of aphorism and a compendium, Best Thought, Worst Thought (Graywolf, 2008). He has also edited a number of anthologies. His poetry has won a number of awards, including the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Whitbread Poetry Prize, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award, and the T S Eliot Prize on two occasions. Most recently, Rain won the 2009 Forward prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Fellow of the English Association; he received the OBE in 2008 and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010.

With John Wilson. Clint Eastwood's new film as a director focuses on J Edgar Hoover, the first head of the FBI. Leonardo DiCaprio takes the title role in J Edgar, which shows Hoover at various stages of his controversial career. Jonathan Freedland reviews. Lord Smith discusses his review of the British film industry, A Future for British Film, published today. It offers 56 recommendations, including a British Film week, funding from TV companies and audience testing for new film releases. Director Roger Michell, whose films include Notting Hill and Venus, offers his perspective. Front Row announces and talks to the winner of the 2012 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry, announced this evening. Now in its 19th year, the prize offers £15,000 for the best collection of poetry, as chosen by a judging panel who are themselves poets. Michael Kiwanuka has won the BBC's Sound of 2012 poll, an accolade previously awarded to Jessie J and Adele. The singer-songwriter reveals how he discovered his sound and why he grew up in a house with very little music. Producer Nicki Paxman.

Ryan chats with the playful TS Eliot Prize award winning Philip Gross. They discuss poet's notebooks, the writing process, what it is like to write for all ages and pepper their discussion with great poems from Philip's recent collections. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser of Anon Poetry Magazine http://www.anonpoetry.co.uk and @anonpoetry. Incidental music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: splpodcast@gmail.com