Caleb Femi Wins Sky Arts Award for Poetry

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Caleb Femi

Nigerian-British poet Caleb Femi has been named the winner of the Poetry prize at the 2025 Sky Arts Awards for his latest collection, The Wickedest.

The awards, held on 16th September at the Roundhouse in London and hosted by comedian Bill Bailey, celebrated excellence across literature, poetry, film, dance, music and visual arts. 

Femi, born in Kano, Nigeria, in 1990, is an author, filmmaker and photographer. He moved to London at the age of seven to join his parents on the North Peckham Estate and later studied English at Queen Mary, University of London. From 2014 to 2016, he taught English in Tottenham before being appointed the first young people’s laureate for London.

His debut collection Poor, published in 2020, won the Forward Prize’s Felix Dennis Award for Best First Collection. Beyond poetry, Femi has written and directed short films including And They Knew Light (2017), Wishbone (2018), Secret Life of Gs (2019) and Survivor’s Guilt (2020). He was also featured in Dazed magazine’s 2021 Dazed100 list of emerging cultural figures.

This year’s winners received bespoke statuettes designed by visual artist Lindsey Mendick, who described the design as a subversion of the iconic BAFTA figure. Guests at the ceremony included Bob Geldof, Dame Joan Bakewell, Sir Lenny Henry, Anita Rani, Myleene Klass and Jim Moir. Live performances came from the Royal Ballet, Dirty Blonde, Nyah Grace, and Bob Geldof’s band The Boomtown Rats, with ska-pop group Madness closing the evening.

Other major award winners included Sally Rooney, who won the Literature category for her novel Intermezzo; Barbara Walker, who took the Visual Art award; and Lola Young, who won for Popular Music. Bob Geldof was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award.

Congratulations, Caleb Femi!

Bakare Oluwatobiloba

I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!