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Poet Ira Lightman is a regular guest on The Verb, and he is never late for our recordings, although he is sometimes nicknamed ‘Ira Lateman’ by others. In a new commission for The Verb, Ira delves deep into the pleasures and perils of lateness and discovers that he’d rather transform ‘late’ into a Verb, and ‘do lateness’ than ‘be late’. Ira’s new collection is ‘Goose’ (Diehard Editions)

Karen is fascinated by the attraction of ‘lateness’ to German poets, and discusses the idea of ‘epochal lateness’, poetry as a ‘late’ form, and the power of poetry written in late in life. Karen is the author of ‘Figuring Lateness in Modern German Culture ’ and a Professor of Modern German Literature at New College, Oxford University.

Comic, cartoonist, actor, and professional badge wearer Phill Jupitus explains why he centred a whole act around the idea of ‘The Late Phill Jupitus’ and explains how the late delivery of line can be just thing , when you’re playing Baron Bomburst in ‘.

Performer and poet Holly Pester brings her playfulness with sound and language to The Verb, this time celebrating the latest of late music – the lullaby. She celebrates ‘the late body’ that sings the lullaby, and the ‘gift’ of sleep. Her album of lullaby collaborations is called Common Rest and is published by Test Centre. It was developed as part of a Wellcome Trust project.

Our ‘dangerous’ reader, writer and editor Andy Miller tries to convince Ian McMillan that to be late is to be literary. What would ‘Alice in Wonderland’ be without the White Rabbit? And can you ever read a book too late? Andy is the author of ‘The Year of Reading Dangerously’ ( Fourth Estate)