The atmosphere is lively, the air is thick, lights are sombre and you may find a New Yorker with a cocktail drink on one hand and a copy of ‘The Wickedest’ book in the other at every corner of this room. At first glance, you tend to forget how you ended up in this crowded place full of bubbling people, but then the music suddenly stops and the DJ speaks into a microphone, only the DJ happens to be British poet Caleb Femi reminding us all of his Peckham roots through a garage mixdown. In a quest to recreate the now famous party night permanently inked in the pages of his latest book. It is a scenery truly like no other, where French words can be heard near the bar and you may catch a British accent here and there in the line to get your book signed. We forget that we are still in New York. Every person in attendance has a different story on how they made it out of a work office straight to the blazing dance floor on a Wednesday night. Some attendees even came prepared, grabbing their favourite pen with them to make sure this night is not only iconic, but forever engraved in the memories of their 20s (Or mid 30s).
Nigerian-British author, director, photographer and London’s youngest people's laureate Caleb Femi first had a taste of stardom after the release of ‘Poor’ in 2020. The young man's debut poetry collection shook up the literature world and brought South London back in the limelight. This took him straight to working along with the late Virgil Abloh on Louis Vuitton’s SS21, proving to be an important British figure amongst creatives and interchangeable in the face of it all. With the support of Document Journal, his writing adventures now brings him to New York city. One could say Caleb looked forward to celebrating the release of the American edition of ‘The Wickedest’, and he sure made it worthwhile.
On a late Wednesday evening at the heart of Brooklyn, Deeds Magazine caught up with the young author Caleb Femi between book signing and DJ sets to uncover the stories behind the lines of his newest edition ‘The Wickedest’ and the flamboyant journey to its release.
Can you please introduce yourself to our audience?
My name is Caleb Femi. I do a lot of things! I’m a writer, director, and photographer. Especially designing recently. That’s who I am.
What was it like growing up in Peckham?
Peckham, South London. One of the most iconic areas you will ever hear about the South. Originally known as ‘Little Lagos’. A vibrant area full of love, community, creativity and genuinity. Most people who live in Peckham and have come in contact with Peckham end up being the most profoundly interesting people you will ever meet, you get me.
Tell us about ‘The Wickedest’; what inspired your latest book?
You know what it is? It’s a combination of things. I guess what sparked it off was lockdown and the fact that we couldn’t go out anymore. Realizing how important community gathering is. And then from that, I was thinking a lot about the nature of house parties and how important that is for community-spirit and community building. For the next two years, I ended up working a lot around the world and when you’re around, you touch base in different places and different parties. And I was like ok cool, there is global chemistry here. I really want to create this fantastic night called ‘The Wickedest’.
What feeling are you trying to convey by incorporating photography between lines of poetry?
In this book, I think photography plays a different role than it did in ‘Poor’. In this one, it was about texturizing the world. My approach to photography this time I really wanted to embrace the nature of being in intimate spaces and dark spaces like this. Lights, people, movement, things aren’t sharp, they are blurry. They’re grey-ish, the air feels like powdery. That is a good ingredient and a good indicator of a good night. I really just wanted to key into that. Also, I felt like they could contribute something in between the words, what the words couldn’t do. The texture of a moment, photography was able to plug that in.
How important is it for you to immortalize, so to speak, a community’s spirits through writing?
Because I’m nothing without community. For me specifically, I don’t know who I am, what I am without a sense of community. I don’t want to be a service to myself and myself alone. And I’ve grown up with that sentiment, I’ve grown up with that installed in me. I’ve got a big family and everything is all about depending on one another, helping one another and finding joy and refuge amongst each other. That for me is what life is all about. So without community, I don’t know if there is any point in doing life, you get me [laugh].
Through the use of fictional characters in this book in particular, it does feel like you’re playing around with the blend of poetry and novel format. Did pushing the boundaries in that aspect ever cross your mind during the writing process?
Yeah, that’s actually a good question. The form (of the book) this time around, I wanted just to be free! I wanted to experiment. Between ‘POOR’ and this book, I did a lot of TV work, a lot of adverts and just like a lot of visual works. I wanted to bring a little bit of that format of scripts. Why shouldn’t the form be malleable and bend around the nature of a party rather than a party bend around the nature of a traditional poetry collection, you know? And I got my eye on writing a novel. So I was like actually this is a decent bridge between that.
New York is crucial for welcoming writers to its scene; James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker… But most importantly, Langston Hughes which is the first person that came to mind when I read some of your excerpts. What is your personal relationship with the city and how do you see New Yorkers living alongside the pages in your book?
New York man! [laugh] I think a lot of contemporary art across the board is influenced one way or another by New York. My personal affinity to New York is very strong. Growing up, a lot of the music I used to listen to, I grew up on deep set and it doesn’t get any more New York than this. I mean, how much more New York can you get? In more recent times, the last time I was in New York was 7 years ago and I had a profound experience here. I spent two weeks here with my brother and a couple of others. The city was everything that we needed. In terms of leveling me into the next stage of my career and creativity. There is something bold about this city, there’s something fearless about this city. Coming here in like 2018, I sort of just drank it up and left with a new sense of audacity. So that’s my affinity to this city and I'm so excited to be back.
When you dabble back and forth into photography and directing, does your output come from the perspective of ‘Caleb the poet’ or do you remove yourself completely from that character and endeavour into another creative side of yourself?
I think for me it is all one and the same. I don’t separate myself from any sides. I think bringing all of my artistic disciplines to each individual one is what I find works best for me. I try to look for poetry in directing, I like to look for a directorial eye in poetry. In photography, it is the same as well. If you understand how you want to work, then you know how one can inform the other and you don’t have to separate anything. I like to just approach everything as me and all of me.
If you could please describe ‘sloghouse’ into your own words? What does it stand for?
Oh sick! I love that, yes! Let’s talk about it. Basically, Sloghouse is a concept hub. It’s a place where we make concepts and we develop them from ideation into realization. Slog is an acronym and it stands for ‘secret life of G’s’ and it’s the house where we do it at, you get me [laugh]. It’s been something we found a lot of creative refuge in and we hope to continue.
I’m sure you have watched the 2023 film ‘American Fiction’ by now. What is your opinion on its commentary of black voices in the literature sphere?
It is a double-edged sword, innit. I think what that did really well for me is the conversation that there are so many ways we contour ourselves as black writers and artists in general. In order to get a piece of the pie, if you know what I mean. It’s all about personal choice. There’s always going to be pros and cons, it’s up to you to decide which one you wanna sort of subscribe to. It was an interesting commentary, one that allowed a wide berth for people to find themselves in it. Man, it does really capture the plike of the black creative. What parts of ourselves do we give up to succeed? What parts of ourselves do we keep and what do we lose when we choose to keep those parts?
That’s a very deep question. Finally, where to next for Caleb Femi?
There is never “something is next” because I’m always doing 5 things at the time. So there is never any space for ok now, I’m breathing and I’m going to pick up something else. In terms of ‘The Wickedest’, I'm trying to bring it to the big screen but we’ll see where that goes.
