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.
The Polari First Book Prize is restricted to first books by writers who were born or work in the UK and Ireland. In 2019 a further award was introduced, the Polari Prize for Book of the Year. 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 2019 Angela Chadwick XX Dialogue Books 2020 Amrou Al-Kadhi Life as a Unicorn Fourth Estate 2021 Mohsin Zaidi A Dutiful Boy Square Peg 2022 Adam Zmith Deep Sniff Watkins 2023 Jon Ransom The Whale Tattoo Muswell Press 2024 Nicola Dinan Bellies Penguin Books
Polari Prize for Book of the Year Year Author Title Publisher Ref. 2019 Andrew McMillan playtime Jonathan Cape 2020 Kate Davies In the Deep End HarperCollins 2021 Diana Souhami No Modernism Without Lesbians Head of Zeus 2022 Joelle Taylor C+nto & Othered Poems The Westbourne Press 2023 Julia Armfield Our Wives Under the Sea Pan Macmillan 2024 Jon Ransom The Gallopers Muswell Press
Polari Prize for Children's and Young Adult Works Year Author Title Publisher Ref. 2024 Sarah Hagger-Holt The Fights That Make Us Usborne
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on the Book of the Year longlist, Nicola Dinan resigned as a judge of the Prize and several authors requested they be withdrawn from the longlist. 10 of the 12 nominees for the First Book Prize, 6 of the 11 other Book of the Year nominees and two of the judges had requested their withdrawal, with two further Book of the Year nominees criticising Boyne's inclusion but stating that they will not be withdrawing. Boyne had previously described himself in the Irish Independent, with reference to J. K. Rowling, as a "fellow TERF". 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; other authors speaking out against Boyne's longlisting included Patrick Ness.
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". 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".
See also
List of LGBTQ literary awards Edmund White Award Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Debut Fiction
References