Caleb Femi

Caleb Femi used to be a teacher until he realised that his dreams wouldn't go beyond the classroom. It's why the poet, filmmaker, photographer and former young people's laureate for London spoke about growing up on a north Peckham estate in his debut collection Poor. And now explores the institution of shoobs or house parties and their vital role in working class communities in his second collection The Wickedest. During this episode, Caleb told me about the universe he's building and why he wants more Black writers to think about how we can contribute to the literary space. I really enjoyed our rich conversation about party culture, shoobs economics, hood proverbs, Boris Johnson, pushing boundaries in our writing and why we need to look after hope. Order Caleb's new book The Wickedest.  Follow Caleb on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Yolanthe on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Black Prose on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Subscribe to the Black Prose Podcast newsletter on Substack. Produced by New Strange. Artwork by Matt Munday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices