Caleb Femi — "Poetry never leaves you."

Think about the last time you felt connected to night: the moon’s luminous glow, the rhythms of a house party, the pulsing of the music, the heartbeat of a community. Caleb Femi’s modern epic, The Wickedest, offers a way back to those feelings—and asks us to consider what lies beneath the surface.

From 10:45 PM to 4:45 AM, readers attend the longest-running house party in South London’s shoob scene, always held at an undisclosed inner-city spot. Rendered in minute-by-minute poetry, photographs, and other visual ephemera, we encounter intimacies, conversations, and perspectives from the party’s attendees, organizers, and the like. In this way, The Wickedest is a singular book that captures time—and a particular moment in time—where the need to gather comes at the height of a loneliness crisis, and we grapple with what it means to truly cultivate communal space. For Caleb, though, the latter is inherent. He continues to lead with humanity, curiosity, love—all of which engender creative work that transcends mediums—and time and place.

In this interview, Caleb shared more about navigating life as a multidisciplinary artist, the private aspects of poetry, the singularity of visual storytelling, and how he honors time both on and off the page. This episode also opens with a story from Jess Focht.

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Episode Transcript: https://slowstoriespodcast.com/caleb-femi/ 

Subscribe to Slow Stories on Substack: https://slowstories.substack.com/  

Purchase Slowing: https://bookshop.org/p/books/slowing-discover-wonder-beauty-and-creativity-through-slow-living-rachel-schwartzmann/21201888?ean=9781797223759  

Purchase The Wickedest: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-wickedest-caleb-femi/21424991 

Follow Caleb: @caleb.femi

Follow Jess: @jessfolk.jpg

Follow Rachel: @rachelschwartzmann