Douglas Stuart, Kae Tempest, Paul Mendez and Florence Given amongst 24 books on diverse and eclectic Polari Prize Longlists
Memoir, fiction, poetry and graphic novels all shine in the eclectic and diverse longlists announced this evening for this year’s Polari Prize and Polari First Book Prize, the UK’s only dedicated awards for LGBTQ+ literature. The 2021 longlists, which range from commercial bestsellers to digital-only releases, feature a large number of books from independent publishers, and were announced in a digital event hosted by author and Polari Salon founder Paul Burston.
Of the Polari First Book Prize longlist, judge and former Polari Prize winner, Angela Chadwick said, “This list features an eclectic mix of exciting new voices that deserve a wide audience. While the books are very different from each other, they all share a raw emotional power that makes for the very best reading experience.” Notable debuts on the stellar list of books include the Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (Picador), Paul Mendez’s Jhalak Prize-shortlisted Rainbow Milk (Dialogue Books), and Florence Given’s Women Don’t Owe You Pretty (Cassell). Alongside memoirs by Michael Cashman, Callum McSwiggan, Jamie Windust and Mohsin Zaidi, poetry collections from small independent presses are represented in the list by James McDermott’s Manatomy (Burning Eye Books) and Charred by Andreena Leeanne (Team Angelica), while the longlist also features a graphic novel self-published through Instagram, in the form of Strange Fruit by Jason Ford.
Also presenting at the digital event, 2021 judge and critically-acclaimed author VG Lee said, “This has been a landmark year for the Polari Prize. Every single book on this diverse and breathtaking longlist deserves to win and together, they represent the very best writing on offer from our LGBTQ+ community!” The Polari Prize longlist (which is for an overall Book of the Year, excluding debuts) features a sensational range of books including Kae Tempest’s On Connection, Eley Williams’ The Liars’ Dictionary and Emma Donoghue’s novel The Pull of the Stars, which is set during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Independent publishers are also well represented here, with books from Nine Arches Press (What Girls Do in the Dark by Rosie Garland), Lightning Books (Beneath the Streets by Adam Macqueen), and Muswell Press (The Ministry of Guidance by Golnoosh Nour) all making this year’s longlist.
Paul Burston, Polari Salon founder, said: “Between them, these two longlists showcase the very best in LGBTQ+ writing talent in the UK today. This Pride month, these are books which tell our truths and are truly worth celebrating.”
The Polari First Book Prize 2021 longlist are:
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty - Florence Given (Cassell)
A Dutiful Boy - Mohsin Zaidi (Square Peg)
Charred - Andreena Leeanne (Team Angelica)
Strange Fruit - Jason Ford (Self-published Instagram Novella)
Rainbow Milk - Paul Mendez (Dialogue Books)
Swimming In The Dark - Tomasz Jędrowski (Bloomsbury)
Forced Out - Kevin Maxwell (Granta)
In Their Shoes : Navigating Non-Binary Life - Jamie Windust (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)
Eat, Gay, Love - Calum McSwiggan (Hodder)
Manatomy - James McDermott (Burning Eye Books)
Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart (Picador)
One of Them - Michael Cashman (Bloomsbury)
The Polari Prize 2021 longlist are:
Dragman - Steven Appleby (Vintage)
The Air Year - Caroline Bird (Carcanet)
The Pull of the Stars - Emma Donoghue (Picador)
The Liars’ Dictionary - Eley Williams (Windmill)
The Ministry of Guidance - Golnoosh Nour (Muswell Press)
On Connection - Kae Tempest (Faber)
What Girls Do in the Dark - Rosie Garland (Nine Arches Press)
Hark - John R Gordon (Team Angelica)
No Modernism Without Lesbians - Diana Souhami (Head of Zeus)
Beneath the Streets - Adam Macqueen (Lightning Books)
The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle - Neil Blackmore (Windmill)
Love & Other Thought Experiments - Sophie Ward (Corsair)
In 2020 the Polari First Book Prize was won by Amrou-Al Kadhi for Life as a Unicorn: A Journey from Shame to Pride and Everything in Between, while the 2020 Polari Prize was won by Kate Davies for the novel In at the Deep End. As is tradition, both writers feature in the judging panels for the 2021 awards, and are joined by Angela Chadwick, Rachel Holmes and Keith Jarrett (Polari First Book Prize) and Suzi Feay, Chris Gribble and VG Lee (Polari Prize). Both prize panels are chaired by founder, journalist and author Paul Burston.
The Polari Prize shortlists will be announced at a ticketed in-person event at London’s legendary LGBTQ+ venue Heaven on July 28. See www.polarisalon.com or search for Polari In Heaven on Eventbrite for details.
