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Diana Athill, the revered editor, novelist and memoirist writes and performs a new letter for the Verb and talks about her new book "Instead of a Book". It's a collection of the letters she's written over the past thirty years to her friend the American poet Edward Field.

There's more from The Verb's new voices, a scheme run between Radio 3 and the Arts Council, supporting emergent talent on the spoken poetry scene. This week we feature poets from Stockton and their mentors.

And as the Forward Poetry Prize celebrates twenty years since its inception, founder William Sieghart and previous winner Jane Duran discusses the effect of the prize, which rewards both established and up-and-coming poets.

Horatio Clare, who's making a name for himself as a nature writer, has taken to the sea. He's currently writer-in-residence for the Maersk shipping line and sailing over the South China Sea. On a ship-to-shore telephone line, Horatio tells Ian how he's being inspired by the solitude of sailing - just 19 seamen on a ship half a kilometre long - and talks about the language and place names of the sea.