''Calling a Wolf a Wolf'' is a confessional collection of poetry about addiction written by

Iranian American Iranian-Americans, also known as Persian-Americans, are Americans, United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian peoples, Iranian ancestry, or who hold Iranian Multiple citizenship, citizenship. Most Iranian-Americans arrived in the U ...

poet

Kaveh Akbar Kaveh Akbar (b. 15 January 1989; Persian language, Persian: کاوه اکبر) is an Iranian American poet, novelist, and editor. He is the author of the poetry collections ''Calling a Wolf a Wolf'' and ''Pilgrim Bell'' and of the novel ''Martyr ...

. It won ''

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bost ...

s John C. Zacharis First Book Award and was shortlisted for the Forward Prizes's

Felix Dennis Felix Dennis (27 May 194722 June 2014) was an English publisher, poet, spoken-word performer, and philanthropist. His company, Dennis Publishing, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom. In more recent times, t ...

Prize for Best First Collection.

Background

Akbar said that the collection, along with his chapbook ''Portrait of an Alcoholic,'' was his personal way of processing what he experienced as an addict and even solidifying and making sense of his sobriety. The collection is written to mold what Akbar felt through not only the process of and recovery from addiction but elaborates on how Akbar's addiction completely isolated him from society and made the world around him surreal.

Publication

''Calling a Wolf a Wolf'' was released by

Alice James Books Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in New Gloucester, Maine. History and mission "Alice James Books was founded as a co-operative press in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, MA in 1973 by five women and two men: ...

on September 12, 2017 in the US and by

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

on January 2, 2018 in the UK.

Content

The themes of the collection center mainly around Akbar's path through addiction and finding his way to recovery. Akbar uses deft language to mentally recreate the isolation that addicts feel and how the world around them may feel hypnagogic or unreal. He tells a story of how a man transformed entirely, then had to push against addiction to become a new man to better life for oneself. The narrative highlights the enjoyments and agonies through addiction that could cause addicts to battle their own inclination and even isolate themselves from everything and everyone to fulfill their addictions, resulting in the loneliness Akbar experienced throughout. The structure of the collection intends to display a transformation of a man into a new better man or the man inside changing oneself. The collection almost chronologically displays his enjoyment of being an alcoholic and being able to escape the world, then changes tones to the pain of addiction and the battling of self-persuasion to escape addiction. The poems move to a sense of recovery.

Reception

''Calling a Wolf a Wolf'' received critical acclaim. ''

Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959 in litera ...

'' called Akbar "a sumptuous, remarkably painterly poet," going on to say:

A number of poets over the years have made alcoholism a major subject—Franz Wright, with his lacerating lines, comes to mind, as does John Berryman and his theatrical derangements. But few have written about this exchange I’m describing—spirituality for spirits, and vice versa—with as much beauty or generosity as Kaveh Akbar. His debut collection is about addiction and its particularities but also touches something larger and harder to point to, to talk about—existential emptiness and the ways substances often offer respite from our spiritual hunger.

Awards and honors

* 2019: ''

s John C. Zacharis First Book Award * 2018:

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

's Levis Reading Prize * 2018: Shortlisted for the Forward Prizes's Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection * 2018: First Horizon Award * 2017: Julie Suk Award * 2017:

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's Great Reads * 2016:

Poetry Society of America Poetry (from the Greek word '' poiesis'', "making") is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, literal or surface-level meanings. Any partic ...

's Lucille Medwick Memorial Award for "Heritage"

References

{{Reflist 2017 poetry books Poems in English American poetry collections Poems about drugs Works about alcoholism Alice James Books books