Manorism

Critics Review

• Manorism is a wonder of a collection. Yomi writes into the space where silence has been enforced, with language so dexterous it sings, with an honesty that is as sure as it is vulnerable. Throughout the collection, he gives language to grief, acute and enormous. He speaks not only to the moments we might falter in the face of our mourning but also to how we might rebuild, how we might not only survive those who pass, but thrive. What a joy it is to hold these words

  Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of OPEN WATER

• The mandem, mourning, mores and manners – Yomi Sode’s Manorism is a thrilling new world to inhabit. Tender, lyrical, questioning, fierce, these poems make you think about the world we live in and how we treat the black men in it . . . This is one of those books that comes along once in a generation and influences generations to come

  Jackie Kay, author of RED DUST ROAD and former Makar of Scotland

• Yomi Sode writes with clarity, anger and love. Manorism reminds me of the paintings of Caravaggio. Empathy and chiaroscuro. More shadow than light. But that is the way of the world

  Andrew Graham-Dixon, author of CARAVAGGIO: A LIFE SACRED AND PROFANE

• Vivid, beautiful and deeply moving. Yomi Sode is a gifted storyteller who pours everything into this sharp and brilliant exploration of Black British masculinity in all its complexity

  Rt Hon Diane Abbott MP

• Searing, shimmering, brilliant. As hard to swallow as it is to put down.

  Yrsa Daley-Ward, author of THE HOW

• A remarkable, textured education in what it means to be made up of different parts, of light and dark places, and of worlds that we know, and that we don’t. Yomi Sode is a beautiful storyteller who pieces it all together

  Candice Carty-Williams, author of PEOPLE PERSON

• I don’t think I’ve ever read such a heartbreaking collection as this angry but deeply vulnerable and tender portrait of Black masculinity. Manorism rages, yet plays with its urgent themes, mixing Yoruba with colloquial speech in a luscious mix of registers and references, from Caravaggio to Mr Marcus, inventing new ways to describe generational trauma and what it’s like to endure racism. This debut is the living heart and soul of contemporary poetry

  Pascale Petit, author of TIGER GIRL

• In his juxtapositions of paintings, black urban life and media, he makes us think of what poetry can be: that the book itself is the poem, and each topic a stanza in a bigger epiphany … A must for all lovers of poetry and its power

  Roger Robinson, author of A PORTABLE PARADISE

• When I speak of justice and anger written with luminous genius, I will forever be speaking of Yomi Sode’s Manorism, a glorious, furious collection that tells a thousand stories in stunningly crafted verse. A triumph that everyone should read

  Nikita Gill, author of GREAT GODDESSES and WILD EMBERS

• Manorism is a stunning debut collection. Yomi Sode’s poems examine the various lenses observing the black body in Britain, the implications of its passage between class, cultural and racial spaces. His words are indelible . . . rich with images that shake your core and a sharpness in its technicality. Manorism is a classic

  Caleb Femi, author of POOR

• Manorism is a work of sincerity that cuts deep. It’s a work that is at once comprehensive and incredibly personal. Reading it I felt my heartbeat change pace, faster and slower. The book is about families, society, being Black in Britain, being a cousin, a nephew, a son and the hope for the future that being a father brings. Yomi is a griot, a voice in which we can hear the ancestors, a voice for now and a prophet of future possibilities

  Arike Oke, Executive Director of Knowledge and Collections, BFI

• This is a such an important collection. Yomi Sode’s debut articulates the most subtle nuances of Black British Masculinity with a breathtaking vulnerability. Truly, Manorism is something new – an interrogation of realities that have been too often ignored, through the lens of experiences that have been pushed into the margins . . . [It] bring[s] the full humanity of Blackness into the centre, through poetry that pushes at boundaries while inviting you in

  Jeffrey Boakye, author of I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID and BLACK, LISTED

• Manorism. A Black British Diasporic way of being. A sense of place. A posture . . . Yomi Sode interrogates this sociocultural phenomenon, looking at masculinity, intergenerational violence and historical legacy . . . This is a British continuation of the conversation Claudia Rankine started . . . These are necessary poems: poems as prayer songs, poems as testimony

  Malika Booker, author of PEPPER SEED

• A brilliant ode to the mandem

  Femi Oyeniran

• Manorism is filled with poetry of a breath held, a fist clenched and held behind the back, the knockout beckoning always. An ambitious and adventurous debut, brimming with heart

  Nii Ayikwei Parkes, author of TAIL OF THE BLUE BIRD

• The birth of a new poetic storyteller

  Nick Makoha, author of THE DARK

• Yomi is not ramping. This is a rich, nuanced, emotional collection. I read about myself and my people, felt an affinity in the expression of experiences we share and felt feelings only we feel. Thank you for this, Yomi

  Jade LB, author of KEISHA THE SKET

• Both sharp-eyed and rich with complex feeling, Manorism is an exquisite collection

  Nadia Owusu, author of AFTERSHOCKS

• Part-confession, part-conjuring and wholly unique, Yomi Sode’s debut collection is unflinching. As he writes, “Our stories are open wounds.” ?ode takes us on a visceral journey, spilling secrets nakedly, not allowing us to look away from the hard truth. And we’re better for it

  Peter Kahn, author of LITTLE KINGS

• An incredibly poignant and layered collection that masterfully graduates from the past, roots us in the present and speaks to the ages all at once. Manorism is a striking, visceral voyage between cultures, languages and histories in ode to the precious lives of Black boys and men

  Sofia Akel

• I think one day, Yomi Sode’s Manorism will be required reading for a generation of young Black men. [This book is h]is widescreen and expansive examination of what it’s like to navigate the complexities of British society as a Black man. From the moments of triumph to those of bleak loss, Sode brings poetic brilliance to the collection’s entire range of subject matter

  Athian Akec, Youth MP for Camden

• A breathtaking and tender exploration of Black boyhood, manhood, fatherhood and grief

  Aniefiok Ekpoudom