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The Wickedest is the follow-up to Caleb Femi''s Forward Prize-winning 2020 collection, Poor . In Caleb''s inimitable, cinematic style, magical realism seeps into the world of the piece almost without our noticing, and builds to a crescendo that is at once euphoric and grief-soaked, but ultimately an assured celebration. The Wickedest is a modern epic exploring the institution of house parties (shoobs) and their function within British working-class communities. It''s a minute-by-minute depiction of a typical night at a legendary house party known as ''The Wickedest'', held monthly at an undisclosed inner-city location. We meet vivid characters spanning the spectrum of youth (teens to thirties) navigating a revelry steeped in camaraderie, dance philosophy, surrealism and introspection. The poems range from classic English sonnets to experimental forms that reflect the collection''s preoccupation with movement theory. They are supplemented with photography, text messages, nightlife application forms and blueprints to create an immersive experience, thrusting the reader into the zeitgeist of Millennial and Gen Z youth culture, back to the moments we, amongst our loved ones, surrendered to joy. The Wickedest dissects the very nature of a party, mapping out its approach to spatial and audio design, all to document the fleeting nature of nightlife venues in our communities and how we are denied space by red tape or closure. This collection is for exhaling, for laughter; it captures the brief moments we fully free ourselves from the weight of reality and float.
A propos de l'auteur
Caleb Femi is a writer, director and photographer, and was featured in the Dazed 100 list of the next generation shaping youth culture. Femi's award-winning debut poetry collection,
Poor, was published in 2020 by Penguin, and won the Forward Prize for best first collection in 2021. It was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, longlisted for the Jhalak Prize, was selected as a Book of the Year by the
New Statesman,
Financial Times,
Guardian,
Observer,
Rough Tradeand the BBC, and was added to AQA's English Literature GCSE syllabus in the UK in 2022. He has directed TV episodes for HBO, the BBC and Netflix, as well as commercials, high-fashion films and runway shows for brands such as Louis Vuitton, TikTok, Bottega Veneta, Dior, Mulberry and NCS. From 2016 to 2018 he was the Young People's Laureate for London, working with young people on a city, national and global level.
