Calling a Wolf a Wolf

About the book

A POETRY BOOK SOCIETY RECOMMENDATION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE FELIX DENNIS PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION 2018

I could not be held responsible
for desire
he could not be held at all

Tracking the joys and pains of the path through addiction, and wrestling with desire, inheritance and faith, Calling a Wolf a Wolf is the darkly sumptuous debut from award-winning poet Kaveh Akbar. These are powerful, intimate poems of thirst: for alcohol, for other bodies, for knowledge and for life.

'The struggle from late youth on, with and without God, agony, narcotics and love, is a torment rarely recorded with such sustained eloquence and passion as you will find in this collection'
FANNY HOWE

'Compelling . . . strange . . . always beautiful'
ROXANE GAY, AUTHOR OF BAD FEMINIST AND HUNGER

'Truly brilliant'
JOHN GREEN, AUTHOR OF THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

'A breathtaking addition to the canon of addiction literature'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED REVIEW)