The Wickedest

by Caleb Femi

Overview

An immersive epic taking place over one night at an underground London house party, conjured by a multi-hyphenate sensation.

the ting popped off last night the DJ spun a tornado into the dance

& when we were in the eye of the music the hand of God shook the room like a snowglobe

& fifty pound notes rained on us

This is how Caleb Femi invites readers into the Wickedest, the longest-running house party in the South London “shoob” scene. Cinematic, immersive, enchanting, and celebratory, every interaction —from the one-on-one intimacies to the swell of the party’s collective roar—refracts through this collection of poetry, visuals, and materials sourced from the author’s real life. The result is a parameterless excavation of a single night on this dance floor, this moment in time. It tracks the minute-to-minute beauty, spontaneity, and real, sustained togetherness of a great party.

The Wickedest dissects the very nature of a party, mapping the magic and the mishaps, the spaces and the sounds, of one unforgettable night. Femi, who became a sensation in the United Kingdom with his last collection, Poor, captures the best that parties can offer, those brief moments when we release ourselves from the weight of reality and float free. He documents the erasure of nightlife spaces across London and the experience of navigating the red tape that relegates low-income communities of color to the margins. Here, house parties can become a revolutionary gathering, a collective act of resistance. The Wickedest contains the bliss and the brilliance of the very best parties, channeled through one of the most exciting and multitalented artists in a generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374616618
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	01/21/2025
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.75(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Caleb Femi is a writer, director, and photographer. He is the author of the poetry collection Poor, which won the 2021 Forward Prize, was short-listed for the Rathbones Folio Prize, and was named a best book of 2020 by many publications, including The Guardian, Financial Times, The Observer, and the BBC. Femi has also 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, and Dior. From 2016 to 2018 he served as Young People’s Laureate for London, where he lives.

Editorial Reviews

"Wholly immersive, The Wickedest crystalizes and forever elevates bashment in this pulsing, visceral fever dream. Femi’s urgent, striking lyricism and images call for us to shake loose jadedness, to recapture what it means to be alive with one another. A near-holy experience, The Wickedest should be read, reread, and studied." —Jonathan Escoffery, author of If I Survive You

"Atmospheric and intoxicating, lyrical and inviting, The Wickedest is a heady night in the dance, and Caleb Femi is the life of the literary party." —Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie

"A riveting collection, bottled in a time capsule of nostalgia, and lived experience. These poems are as tender, as they are a vibe. A head nod to communities meeting in ritual. The Wickedest honours the world within a world. The henjoyment in language, and complexities in how gatherings can unfold." —Yomi Sode, author of Manorisms

"A mellifluously marvellous journey towards joy, The Wickedest pulses with Rhythm and Poetry at its most penetrating and picturesque. Caleb has constructed a jewel of a jam; glimmering, sweaty, sensual, unforgettable." —Inua Ellams, author of The Half-God of Rainfall

"The Wickedest by the young British Nigerian poet-filmmaker Caleb Femi is a mesmerizing journey through the different moments of one night’s revelry. A heady mix of the formal and urbane, the sacred and mundane, the collection keeps you in suspense, making you question whether you’re counting down to something or have left something significant behind. The time signatures dance unpredictably, heightening the anticipation and intrigue. The vivid pictures punctuating the book lend it a cinematic scope, immersing you in a unique cultural experience. The Wickedest is a hypnotic, experiential happening of a book—essential reading for all." —Roger Robinson, T. S. Eliot Prize-winning author of A Portable Paradise

"In The Wickedest, Caleb Femi renders thrillingly tangible a world of moments in which the relationship between the DJ the riddim and the dancer is a kind of sacrament, a form of collective healing in the face of life's manifold threats to black life." —Kayo Chingonyi, author of A Blood Condition

"From its first word this is poetry that moves and is felt in the body; the poem taken from the page to the dance floor of the club. 'I’ve been eating sound since ice-cream van melodies,' writes Femi. Those sounds, that movement, fill this collection." —Andrew McMillan, author of Pity

"Immersive, rapturous writing that truly transports. The Wickedest is a joyous, lyrical read that I won't soon forget, and Caleb Femi, an exceptionally talented poet." —Yomi Adegoke, author of The List

From the Publisher