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Verb regular Kate Fox has written us a new poem imagining alternative names for herself, her husband, and most importantly, her dog. Kate muses on the distance between people you know and their public and private names, and not being the only Kate Fox in town…

Iain Sinclair considers his relationship to the spelling of his name and the experience of growing up in Wales with a Scottish name. Sinclair’s new book is ‘Living With Buildings: And Walking with Ghosts’ (Wellcome Collection), a book full of resonant place names as Iain examines the relationship between our health and the buildings we inhabit.

Sam Illingworth is the Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at Manchester Metropolitan University. This week on the Verb Sam is going to communicate about the history of Scientific Names, and the importance of specificity when it comes to taxonomy. Sam has also come up with exciting new scientific names for Ian and the rest of the verb guests…

The poet and translator Marilyn Hacker explains the importance of naming when working with translation and explains how she is inspired by the multiplicity of languages she hears around her where she lives in Paris. She reads her poem for her friend and fellow poet Haydn Carruth. Marilyn Hacker’s ‘Blazons: New and Selected Poems’ will be published by Carcanet in March 2019.