Poor by Caleb Femi
Last updated: 3 October 2026
Poor by Caleb Femi is a collection of poems and his own photographs about growing up as a young Black boy on the North Peckham Estate in south London. It won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2021. On 3 October 2026 Amazon UK had the 160-page Penguin paperback at £9.68, down from an RRP of £10.99, with 10 left in stock and more on the way.
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What Poor is about
Femi writes about the boys he grew up with in Peckham, and about the estate itself. The concrete blocks, the gentrifying streets around them and the police all shape the lives in the poems. The estate had 1,444 homes linked by raised walkways, so you could walk two and a half miles through it without ever touching the ground.
The book mixes verse with Femi's own photographs of the estate and the people on it. Alongside the poems about friends and family, he writes about the rappers and artists who spoke to their lives.
Who Caleb Femi is
Femi was born in Kano, Nigeria, in 1990 and moved to the North Peckham Estate at the age of seven. He taught English at a secondary school in Tottenham, then in 2016 became the first Young People's Laureate for London. He also writes and directs short films. His second collection, The Wickedest, came out from Fourth Estate in September 2024.
Prizes and reviews
Poor won the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection at the Forward Prizes in October 2021. It was also shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. In The Guardian, Rishi Dastidar wrote that it is rare for a book of poems "to repeatedly leave you breathless". Bernardine Evaristo picked it as a book of the year in the New Statesman. The full set of reviews is on Penguin's page for Poor.
Key facts
- Author: Caleb Femi
- Publisher: Penguin
- This edition: paperback, 5 November 2020
- Length: 160 pages, 13 x 19.8cm, about the size of a standard paperback novel
- Other formats: ebook and audiobook
- ISBN: 9780141992150
- Price: £9.68 on Amazon UK on 3 October 2026, RRP £10.99
Who it suits
- Readers new to poetry: the poems are rooted in one place and one group of friends, and the photographs make it easy to picture the estate.
- Anyone interested in London: it records a south London estate and the changes around it from the inside.
- Fans of verse novels: if you liked The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta, a coming-of-age story told in poems, Poor is a good next read.
The limits
Poor is a poetry collection, not a memoir. So there is no single story running through it, and readers who want a straight history of the estate will need another book. The photographs are printed inside a standard paperback, so anyone after a large-format photo book should look elsewhere.
Where to buy it in the UK
Amazon UK had the paperback at £9.68 on 3 October 2026, sold and shipped by Amazon. The Kindle and audiobook editions were £5.99 each.
Poor by Caleb Femi on Amazon UK
FAQs
What is Poor by Caleb Femi about?
It is about growing up as a young Black boy on the North Peckham Estate in south London, told through poems and Femi's own photographs.
Did Poor win any prizes?
Yes. It won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2021 and was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize.
How long is Poor?
The Penguin paperback runs to 160 pages.
How much does Poor cost in the UK?
Amazon UK had the paperback at £9.68 on 3 October 2026. The RRP is £10.99.
Is there an audiobook of Poor?
Yes. Penguin publishes it as an audio download as well as an ebook.
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