27 January 2007
Saturday 27 January 2007 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Ian McMillan presents the weekly magazine about language. Guests Stuart Maconie and Iain Sinclair debate the literary north-south divide and folk singer Kathryn Williams pays tribute to poet Stevie Smith.
Playlist
Some people say the North begins at the RAC Traffic Centre on the M6 where the road surface changes from tarmac to cobbles.
Others believe that one step north of Oxford Circus is a step too far and there's another, more traditional school which puts the dividing line between North and South at Watford Gap.
This week in The Verb one of Ian McMillan's guests suggests the real border can be found at Crewe.
All of this speculation prompted Ian to wonder whether there's such a thing as a North/South divide as far as writers are concerned so he enlisted the help of Stuart Maconie, the author of a new book - Pies and Prejudice, which is a kind of quest for the North, as well as Iain Sinclair, one of the South's best known chroniclers.
They're all joined by the spoken word maestro, Polar Bear, who's from Birmingham, Anthony Joseph, who's created a suite of poems about a journey to his childhood home in Trinidad and the Liverpool-born, Mercury Prize nominee, Kathryn Williams, who performs two songs - one a special tribute to the poet, Stevie Smith, who, in case you were wondering, was born in Kingston upon Hull but grew up in Broadstairs.
Whether you're from Lands End or John O'Groats why not join Ian McMillan and his guests for The Verb here on BBC Radio 3 at half past nine this Saturday evening.
Additional information:
Stuart Maconie's book Pies and Prejudice is published by Ebury Press and its out on February 1st.
His radio show Freakzone on BBC 6 Music goes out on Sunday 1700-2000.
Iain Sinclair's latest book is London: City of Disappearances. Its published by Hamish Hamilton.
Kathryn Williams' latest CD is Leave to Remain and its released by Caw Records.
Polar Bear's work can be found at his myspace website -- http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=53106038
Anthony Joseph's novel The African Origins of UFOs was released by Salt Publishing in October. A dramatic version of this book will premiere at The Blue Elephant Theatre in Camberwell at the beginning of March. Useful websites for his work are : www.saltpublishing.comwww.myspace.com/adjoseph
