Polari Prize

The Polari Prize is an annual UK literary prize for LGBTQ+ literature. Established by Paul Burston and the Polari Salon, the prize has been awarded annually since its launch in 2011.[1]

  • The Polari First Book Prize is restricted to first books by writers who were born or work in the UK and Ireland.[2]
  • In 2019 a further award was introduced, the Polari Prize for Book of the Year.[3]
  • In 2024 a Polari Children's & YA Prize was awarded to The Fights That Make Us by Sarah Hagger-Holt, published by Usborne Books.

Polari First Book Prize

Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
2011 James Maker AutoFellatio Inkandescent
2012 John McCullough The Frost Fairs Salt Publishing
2013 Mari Hannah The Murder Wall Pan Macmillan
2014 Diriye Osman Fairytales for Lost Children Angelica Entertainment
2015 Kirsty Logan The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales Salt Publishing
2016 Paul McVeigh The Good Son Salt Publishing
2017 Saleem Haddad Guapa Europa Editions
2018 Fiona Mozley Elmet John Murray [4]
2019 Angela Chadwick XX Dialogue Books [3]
2020 Amrou Al-Kadhi Life as a Unicorn Fourth Estate [5]
2021 Mohsin Zaidi A Dutiful Boy Square Peg [6]
2022 Adam Zmith Deep Sniff Watkins [7]
2023 Jon Ransom The Whale Tattoo Muswell Press [8]
2024 Nicola Dinan Bellies Penguin Books [9]

Polari Prize for Book of the Year

Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
2019 Andrew McMillan playtime Jonathan Cape [3]
2020 Kate Davies In the Deep End HarperCollins [5]
2021 Diana Souhami No Modernism Without Lesbians Head of Zeus [6]
2022 Joelle Taylor C+nto & Othered Poems The Westbourne Press [7]
2023 Julia Armfield Our Wives Under the Sea Pan Macmillan [8]
2024 Jon Ransom The Gallopers Muswell Press [10]

Polari Prize for Children's and Young Adult Works

Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
2024 Sarah Hagger-Holt The Fights That Make Us Usborne [11]

2025 controversy

In August 2025, after the inclusion of John Boyne’s Earth on the Book of the Year longlist, Nicola Dinan resigned as a judge of the Prize and several authors requested they be withdrawn from the longlist.[12][13][14] As of 15 August 2025, 10 of the 12 nominees for the First Book Prize,[13][14] 6 of the 11 other Book of the Year nominees[14] and two of the judges[13] had requested their withdrawal, with two further Book of the Year nominees criticising Boyne's inclusion but stating that they will not be withdrawing.[14] Boyne had previously described himself in the Irish Independent, with reference to J. K. Rowling, as a "fellow TERF".[15] An open letter and petition by authors Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin and Emma van Straaten called on the prize to withdraw Boyne from the longlist was signed by over 800 writers and people in the publishing industry;[16] other authors speaking out against Boyne's longlisting included Patrick Ness.[17]

On 18 August 2025, the organisers announced they would "pause" the prize for 2025. In a statement, the organisers said they "condemn all forms of transphobia" and would now "increase representation of trans and gender non-conforming judges on panels and undertake a governance and management review".[18][19] In an op-ed in The Daily Telegraph the following day, Boyne expressed disappointment that nobody from the Polari Prize had contacted him throughout what he described as a "literary scandal".[20]

References

  1. ^ "Polari Prize". Polari Salon. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Polaris Salon". Polari Salon. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Chadwick, McMillan win 2019 Polari Prizes". Books+Publishing. 23 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Elmet wins 2018 Polari First Book Prize". Books+Publishing. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Davies, Al-Kadhi win 2020 Polari Prizes". Books+Publishing. 16 October 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Souhami, Zaidi win 2021 Polari Prizes". Books+Publishing. 1 November 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Taylor, Zmith win 2022 Polari Prizes". Books+Publishing. 16 November 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  8. ^ a b Creamer, Ella (24 November 2023). "Julia Armfield and Jon Ransom win the Polari prizes for LGBTQ+ books". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  9. ^ Knight, Lucy (29 November 2024). "Jon Ransom wins second Polari prize in two years with The Gallopers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
  10. ^ Knight, Lucy (29 November 2024). "Jon Ransom wins second Polari prize in two years with The Gallopers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
  11. ^ "Jon Ransom wins second Polari Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  12. ^ "Polari Prize faces backlash for including 'TERF' author John Boyne on 2025 longlist". Scene Magazine. 7 August 2025. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
  13. ^ a b c "Polari Prize longlist announced but authors launch protest action over inclusion of John Boyne". OutInPerth. 9 August 2025. Retrieved 9 August 2025. Author Sacha Coward has asked for his book Queer as Folklore to be removed, as has Mae Diansangu who was included for her debut novel Bloodsongs. Jason Okundaye has withdrawn his work Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain, and Amy Twigg author of Spoilt Creatures pulled her book from contention too.
  14. ^ a b c d Urquhart, Evan (11 August 2025). "Queer Authors Withdraw From Writing Prize En Masse Over Inclusion of Self-Proclaimed TERF". Assigned Media. Archived from the original on 11 August 2025. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  15. ^ "John Boyne on JK Rowling: 'As a writer, I'm in awe of her achievements. As a reader, I love her work. And as a fellow Terf, I stand four-square behind her'". Irish Independent. 27 July 2025. Archived from the original on 28 July 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  16. ^ Boulter, Hosanna (18 August 2025). "Polari literary prize cancels award following backlash over Irish author John Boyne". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  17. ^ Ness, Patrick [@patricknessbooks]; (18 August 2025). "Turns out most people aren't transphobes and don't like being associated with it". Retrieved 19 August 2025 – via Instagram.
  18. ^ Simpson, Craig (18 August 2025). "Book prize 'paused' after trans backlash over gender-critical nominee". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  19. ^ McIntosh, Steven (18 August 2025). "Organisers cancel book prize over trans controversy". BBC News Online. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  20. ^ Boyne, John (19 August 2025). "Here's what happened when they tried to cancel me". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 August 2025. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
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