大象传媒

Raymond鈥檚 first full-length poetry collection 鈥楾he Perseverance鈥� was published last year to great acclaim 鈥� and has just won The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. One of the judges, Linton Kwesi Johnson, described it as 鈥榯he most engaging collection of poems we have read in a long time鈥�. 鈥楾he Perseverance鈥� (Penned in the Margins) has also been shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the Jhalak Prize. Raymond performs two new poems, written for The Verb, one of which explores loneliness as part of the emotional journey of writing a poem, and the remarkable 鈥榖razen鈥� sound of birds in New Zealand. The second poem which Raymond performs celebrates the sounds of word like 鈥榚legancies鈥�, 鈥榬avish鈥�, 鈥榝ragment鈥� and 鈥榚nthrall鈥� and their 鈥榩ossible energies鈥�.

Tara writes two new poems especially for our emotional Verb, inspired by the challenges of beginning the process of writing. She explains to Ian why she enjoyed slipping a reference to the song 鈥楳olly Malone鈥� into her poem 鈥楺uartz鈥� and explains why she finds inspiration in the Hungarian poet J谩nos Pilinszky鈥檚 comment that 鈥�each deficiency may become a creative force of high quality鈥�. Tara鈥檚 latest collection 鈥楾he Tragic Death of Eleanor Marx鈥� (Carcanet) was shortlisted for the T.S.Eliot Prize.

Aidan and Hubby (R.M.Hubbert) have been collaborating on the album 鈥楬ere Lies the Body鈥� ( Rock Action Records) which came out last year, so we asked them to write us a song exploring the emotions of their writing process. The result is 鈥楽ong on Song鈥� which marries Aidan鈥檚 sense that it is impossible to show the true self in lyrics, that we are 鈥榓ll liars鈥� - 聽with Hubby鈥檚 insistent, repetitive guitar accompaniment, evoking the process of drafting and redrafting. Aidan continues to perform with his band Arab Strap, and Hubby is working on a solo album.

Denise finds joy in beginning to write novels, and loves the sense that her own world suddenly feels enlarged. For The Verb she writes a diary of two weeks in March when she started her new novel, a work-in-progress provisionally called 鈥楢 Minor Murder鈥�. Along the way we discover that she delights in working out which Justin Bieber song would have been important to her main character, that being angry can make it easier to write, and the pleasure she feels when a piece of writing just 鈥榝all out of your hands鈥�. Denise has won many awards, including the McIllvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year, and The Gordon Burn prize for 鈥楾he Long Drop鈥� and has been described by The Telegraph 聽as 鈥榯he woman who may be Britain鈥檚 finest living crime novelist鈥�.