Poor

From an impoverished childhood shaped by her parents' addictions to becoming a prize-winning academic, this is the incredible memoir from an inspiring voice, told with devastating candour, humour and warmth. THE NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER WINNER OF BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR, IRISH BOOK AWARDS ‘Hands down, definitely, one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s an amazing story and brilliantly written as well’ Adrian Chiles, Saturday Live, BBC ---- Like young girls everywhere Katriona O’Sullivan grew up bright, enthusiastic, curious. But she was also surrounded by abject poverty and chaos . After becoming pregnant and homeless at 15, what followed was five years of barely surviving. Yet today Katriona is an award-winning academic whose work explores barriers to education for girls like her. What set Katriona on this unexpected path were the mentors and supporters who truly saw her. The teachers who showed her how to wash in the school toilets or turned up at her door to convince her to sit at least one GCSE. The community worker who encouraged her to apply for training schemes. The friend who introduced Katriona to Trinity College’s access program while she was a cleaner. Simple acts that would help her turn her life around. Told with warmth, clarity and compassion – compassion for her parents, for her younger self, for others – Poor is both an astonishing personal testimony and an impassioned plea for the future of our children. Praise for POOR : 'One of the best [books] I have read about the complexities of poverty . . . one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet' Guardian ‘Powerful – Katriona is a legend’ Barry Keoghan ‘Raw, passionate and resolutely honest – I’ll never forget it’ Annie Mac 'I read poor in one sitting I found it so compelling . . . moving, uplifting, brave, heroic ' Nuala McGovern, Woman's Hour, BBC Radio Four 'Moving, funny, brave and original - just like the author . . . absolutely incredible' Roísín Ingle, Irish Times Women's Podcast ‘ One of the books of the year’ Patrick Kielty, Late Late Show , RTÉ One 'Full of insight . . . so important' Fi Glover, Times Radio 'One of the most important books I have ever read … a beautiful telling of determination despite the odds' Lynn Ruane, Irish Times 'Fearless, funny and searingly honest' Adil Ray OBE 'Raw and remarkable ' Irish Independent 'A book of empowerment and hope' Patricia Scanlan

From an impoverished childhood shaped by her parents' addictions to becoming a prize-winning academic, this is the incredible memoir from an inspiring voice, told with devastating candour, humour and warmth. THE NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER WINNER OF BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR, IRISH BOOK AWARDS ‘Hands down, definitely, one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s an amazing story and brilliantly written as well’ Adrian Chiles, Saturday Live, BBC ---- Like young girls everywhere Katriona O’Sullivan grew up bright, enthusiastic, curious. But she was also surrounded by abject poverty and chaos . After becoming pregnant and homeless at 15, what followed was five years of barely surviving. Yet today Katriona is an award-winning academic whose work explores barriers to education for girls like her. What set Katriona on this unexpected path were the mentors and supporters who truly saw her. The teachers who showed her how to wash in the school toilets or turned up at her door to convince her to sit at least one GCSE. The community worker who encouraged her to apply for training schemes. The friend who introduced Katriona to Trinity College’s access program while she was a cleaner. Simple acts that would help her turn her life around. Told with warmth, clarity and compassion – compassion for her parents, for her younger self, for others – Poor is both an astonishing personal testimony and an impassioned plea for the future of our children. Praise for POOR : 'One of the best [books] I have read about the complexities of poverty . . . one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet' Guardian ‘Powerful – Katriona is a legend’ Barry Keoghan ‘Raw, passionate and resolutely honest – I’ll never forget it’ Annie Mac 'I read poor in one sitting I found it so compelling . . . moving, uplifting, brave, heroic ' Nuala McGovern, Woman's Hour, BBC Radio Four 'Moving, funny, brave and original - just like the author . . . absolutely incredible' Roísín Ingle, Irish Times Women's Podcast ‘ One of the books of the year’ Patrick Kielty, Late Late Show , RTÉ One 'Full of insight . . . so important' Fi Glover, Times Radio 'One of the most important books I have ever read … a beautiful telling of determination despite the odds' Lynn Ruane, Irish Times 'Fearless, funny and searingly honest' Adil Ray OBE 'Raw and remarkable ' Irish Independent 'A book of empowerment and hope' Patricia Scanlan

WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION Chosen as a Book of the Year by New Statesman , Financial Times , Guardian , Observer , Rough Trade and the BBC Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize 'Restlessly inventive, brutally graceful, startlingly beautiful ... a landmark debut' Guardian 'Oh my God, he's just stirring me. Destroying me' Michaela Coel 'A poet of truth and rage, heartbreak and joy' Max Porter 'Takes us into new literary territory ... impressive' Bernardine Evaristo, New Statesman (Books of the Year) 'It's simply stunning. Every image is a revelation' Terrance Hayes What is it like to grow up in a place where the same police officer who told your primary school class they were special stops and searches you at 13 because 'you fit the description of a man' - and where it is possible to walk two and a half miles through an estate of 1,444 homes without ever touching the ground? In Poor , Caleb Femi combines poetry and original photography to explore the trials, tribulations, dreams and joys of young Black boys in twenty-first century Peckham. He contemplates the ways in which they are informed by the built environment of concrete walls and gentrifying neighbourhoods that form their stage, writes a coded, near-mythical history of the personalities and sagas of his South London youth, and pays tribute to the rappers and artists who spoke to their lives. Above all, this is a tribute to the world that shaped a poet, and to the people forging difficult lives and finding magic within it. As Femi writes in one of the final poems of this book: 'I have never loved anything the way I love the endz.'

WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION Chosen as a Book of the Year by New Statesman , Financial Times , Guardian , Observer , Rough Trade and the BBC Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize 'Restlessly inventive, brutally graceful, startlingly beautiful ... a landmark debut' Guardian 'Oh my God, he's just stirring me. Destroying me' Michaela Coel 'A poet of truth and rage, heartbreak and joy' Max Porter 'Takes us into new literary territory ... impressive' Bernardine Evaristo, New Statesman (Books of the Year) 'It's simply stunning. Every image is a revelation' Terrance Hayes What is it like to grow up in a place where the same police officer who told your primary school class they were special stops and searches you at 13 because 'you fit the description of a man' - and where it is possible to walk two and a half miles through an estate of 1,444 homes without ever touching the ground? In Poor , Caleb Femi combines poetry and original photography to explore the trials, tribulations, dreams and joys of young Black boys in twenty-first century Peckham. He contemplates the ways in which they are informed by the built environment of concrete walls and gentrifying neighbourhoods that form their stage, writes a coded, near-mythical history of the personalities and sagas of his South London youth, and pays tribute to the rappers and artists who spoke to their lives. Above all, this is a tribute to the world that shaped a poet, and to the people forging difficult lives and finding magic within it. As Femi writes in one of the final poems of this book: 'I have never loved anything the way I love the endz.'