Caleb Femi (born 1990) is a British-Nigerian author, film-maker, photographer, and former young people's laureate for

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. His debut poetry collection, ''Poor'', was awarded a Forward Prize for Poetry.

Early life

Femi was born in 1990 in

Kano, Nigeria Kano (Ajami: كانو) is a city in northern Nigeria and the capital of Kano State. It is the second largest city in Nigeria after Lagos, with over four million citizens living within ; located in the Savanna, south of the Sahel, Kano is a m ...

, where he was brought up by his grandmother. When he was seven years old, he moved to join his parents on the

North Peckham Estate Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vil ...

. After leaving school, he studied English at

Queen Mary, University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

Career

From 2014 to 2016 Femi taught English at a secondary school in

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

. In 2016 he was chosen as the first young people's laureate for

. On 30 July 2020, he published his debut poetry collection, entitled ''Poor'', which won the Forward Prize's Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection in October 2021.

Filmography

Femi has so far made and released four short films, serving as writer/director on each: * ''And They Knew Light'' (2017) * ''Wishbone'' (2018) * ''Secret Life of Gs'' (2019) * ''Survivor's Guilt'' (2020)

Accolades

Femi was named in ''

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...

'' magazine's 2021 Dazed100, a list of the next generation shaping youth culture.

References

External links

Official website

Caleb Femi
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Bridget Minamore Bridget Minamore (born 1991) is a British poet, essayist, journalist and critic. She is the author of the 2016 poetry collection ''Titanic'', and her writing has appeared in such outlets as ''The Guardian'', ''The Stage'', '' i'', ''The Fader'', ...

"Get Up, Stand Up Now: Q&A with poet and director Charles Femi"

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...

, 28 August 2019 1990 births Black British filmmakers Living people Nigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom Nigerian film directors Nigerian photographers Nigerian writers People from Kano {{Nigeria-poet-stub