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In a special commission for The Verb, Alex Preston writes a letter to the poet David Jones, who wrote the WWI epic ‘In Parenthesis’ (Faber). He makes a case for rediscovering a difficult work that tells the everyday story of the trenches. Alex’s novel ‘In Love and War’ will be published later this year by Faber.

The acclaimed director of ‘Orlando’ and ‘Yes’, Sally’s new book is ‘Naked Cinema: Working with Actors’ (Faber). Sally discusses the language of directing, and how getting to the truth is often about knowing when – and when not to speak.

Sofie Hagen is the winner of this year’s Chortle’s Best Newcomer award. Originally from Denmark, Sofie explains elements of her country’s dark humour, including Denmark’s version of a knock-knock joke, and why the word ‘ghost’ isn’t funny in Danish.

In ‘Epigraphs’ (If P then Q), the poet Chrissy Williams asks if an epigraph alone can do the job of a poem. The book is a personal selection of 100 epigraphs, which combine to form a single sequence.