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How do you give hope to children when you're not feeling hopeful? What's the difference between optimism and hope? How do children's writers balance light and dark, joy and sadness? And what kind of language sustains and nurtures us through difficult times when we're young? Smriti Halls, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Kate Fox and Gaia Vince join Ian McMillan for a 'hope-ist' Verb.

Smriti Halls
Smriti鈥檚 books often seek to acknowledge loss and sadness whilst suggesting through image, rhythm and story that we are never truly alone. Smriti reads from 鈥楻ain Before Rainbows鈥� and explains how carefully she thought about the balance of dark and light in this book for young children, and about the nature of time. Smriti shares the language that sustained her as a child 鈥� Louise May Alcott鈥檚 鈥楲ittle Women鈥� and Oscar Wilde's 鈥楾he Happy Prince鈥�. Books by Smriti are read all over the world: 鈥業鈥檓 Sticking with You鈥� was a number one bestseller in the U.S.A and recent stories include 鈥楾he Little Island鈥� and 鈥楨lephant in my Kitchen鈥�.

Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Screenwriter and author of children鈥檚 books Frank Cottrell-Boyce, reads us his story about a world surrounded by cloud and a girl called Sunny who realises there's life beyond it. 鈥楳urcaster鈥� is a story written as a 鈥榟ope鈥� to give to children during this pandemic (it鈥檚 one of over 100 such 鈥榟opes鈥� included in an anthology by Katherine Rundell ). Frank explains how the writing process itself is inevitably an act of hope, and discusses the influence of hymns 鈥� the way even their rhythms can communicate a kind of hopefulness. Frank also considers the way 鈥榟ope鈥� is integral to the DNA of the 鈥楧octor Who鈥� (he has written for the series) . His most recent book for children is 鈥楾he Runaway Robot鈥�.

Gaia Vince
Gaia is an award-winning science journalist, author, and broadcaster. She鈥檚 interested in how human systems and Earth鈥檚 planetary systems interact. Her book 鈥楢dventures in the Anthropocene鈥� won the Royal Society Prize for Science Books. She discusses her writing on co-operation and on the idea that we are now part of a collective she's named 鈥楬omni鈥� (explored in her new book 'Transcendence') . Gaia reads a special commission for The Verb 鈥� a letter to her children for them to open when they're in their eighties.

Kate Fox
Fresh from captaining Loughborough University on University Challenge, stand-up poet and Verb regular Kate Fox shares the most interesting comments on hope she has come across this year, and quotations from her own childhood reading. These include the extended railway metaphor employed by Government scientist Jonathan Van-Tam, ideas about hopeful journeys from 'Jane Eyre' and 'Alice in Wonderland' and the enduring resonance of 14th-century mystic Julian of Norwich鈥檚 phrase 鈥楢ll shall be well鈥�.