"Mr. Akbar's poems give language and form to many experiences I thought too abstract for expression. They are at once deeply personal and about all of us."

-John Green, The Wall Street Journal

"...Akbar proves what books can do in his exceptional debut, which brings us along on his struggle with addiction, a dangerous comfort and soul-eating monster he addresses boldly..."

-Library Journal, STARRED review

"At times conversational, at times oratorical, Akbar seems to understand that he is moving through the intimate and the cosmic with the same lingering eye for detail."

-Angel City Review

"[Calling a Wolf a Wolf] is a welcome testimony to how the deeply personal can seep into and even shape our national consciousness. This is the work of great poetry."

-Seattle Review of Books

"[Calling a Wolf a Wolf] is a book that whispers, that longs for connection..."

-Rain Taxi Review of Books

"These are meditations on life as viewed through the color-saturated prism of a self-admitted alcoholic-addict, who finds beauty in even the ugliest of experiences."

-VOGUE