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The writer and editor Andy Miller has taken the author event and transformed it into a motivational speech. In ‘Read Yrself Fitter’, Andy discusses the concept of sincere irony and argues that we can read better, that great literature can be part of family life, and that if you don’t like the peace in ‘War and Peace’ don’t worry because some war will be along soon enough. Using Step 8 of his motivational programme, Andy encourages Ian to try harder with George Eliot’s ‘Middlemarch’, one of the 50 books on his personal ‘list of betterment’ . ‘The Year of Reading Dangerously’ is published by 4th Estate.

The Canadian folk group The Barr Brothers perform ‘Even the Darkness Has Arms’ and ‘How The Heroine Dies’ from their latest album ‘Sleeping Operator’ (Secret City). Songwriter Brad Barr discusses the images of darkness that run through the album, and explains that the real meaning of his songs can sometimes take many years to reveal themselves.

Imtiaz Dharker is a poet, artist and documentary filmmaker. Her latest collection of poetry is ‘Over the Moon’ (Bloodaxe) written in the wake of losing her husband Simon Powell. A book of two halves ‘Over the Moon’ examines love and loss but always comes back to the celebration of presence rather than absence. For Imtiaz loss is a wordless place and language is the route back to life.

The writer and humourist Simon Rich’s latest collection of short stories is ‘Spoiled Brats’ (Serpent’s Tail). A spoiled teenage lifeguard is at the heart of a new story that Simon has written especially for The Verb called ‘Swim at your own Risk’, part of our ‘Instruction Manuals’ series. Simon has taken the idea of the poolside prohibition sign, and has come up with a stretch of water that is probably best avoided.

In this episode of our podcast only series ‘Five Minute Myths’, we explore Jack London’s aphorism that 'You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.' This week Ian asks the poet Ira Lightman about the role inspiration played in the creation of his new chapbook ‘Skelelittle’ (Like This Press), and whether the idea of 'working' for inspiration appeals to him.