Edward Enninful, Douglas Stuart and Julia Armfield Lead 2023 Polari Prize Longlists

Polari Prizes 2023

“At a time when LGBTQ people are under attack, our stories matter more than ever.” - Paul Burston, Founder

Celebrating a wealth of genres and forms, including memoir, poetry, historical fiction and gripping thrillers, the UK and Ireland’s only dedicated prize for LGBTQ+ literature has announced its 2023 longlists for the Polari Prize and Polari First Book Prize. The prizes are sponsored by award-winning literary PR consultancy FMcM, and the D H H Literary Agency.

This year’s longlists feature notable debuts and highly acclaimed titles including the Sunday Times bestselling memoir A Visible Man by Edward Enninful (Bloomsbury), the Orwell prize-winning The New Life by Tom Crewe (Chatto & Windus) and Travis Alabanza’s None of the Above (Canongate). A dash of historical fiction appears across both longlists including the previously mentioned debut from Crewe as well as Patrick Gale’s Mother’s Boy (Tinder Press), and taut and gripping crime thrillers such as No Country for Girls by Emma Style (Sphere) and The School House by Sophie Ward (Corsair). As for poetry, Caroline Bird presents work composed over two decades in Rookie (Carcanet Press) while poet Seán Hewitt turns his hand to memoir with All Down Darkness Wide (Jonathan Cape).

Prize founder, Paul Burston, said: “This year’s Polari Prize longlists demonstrate a diverse range of

LGBTQ literary talent, writing across many different genres and from a wide variety of perspectives. The volume and quality of submissions was extremely high this year, and the judges really had their work cut out. But these are longlists we can all be proud of. At a time when LGBTQ people are under attack, our stories matter more than ever. These are our stories. Read them. Learn from them. Celebrate them.”

Joining Paul on the judging panel for the 2023 Polari Prize is author VG Lee, literary critic Suzi Feay, Chris Gribble of the National Centre for Writing and 2022 Polari Book Prize winner Joelle Taylor. For the Polari First Book Prize, Paul will be joined by author Rachel Holmes, poet Sophia Blackwell, author Karen McLeod and Adam Zmith, winner of the 2022 Polari First Book Prize. Both prize panels will be chaired by founder, journalist and author Paul Burston.

Polari Prize 2022 Winner’s Ceremony at the British Library

The Polari First Book Prize is awarded annually to a debut book that explores the LGBTQ+ experience, and has previously been won by writers including Kirsty Logan, Amrou Al- Kadhi, Mohsin Zaidi and last year’s winner Adam Zmith for his keenlyresearched history of poppers Deep Sniff.

The Polari Prize also awards an overall book of the year, excluding debuts, and previous winners include Andrew McMillan (Playtime), Kate Davies (In At the Deep End), Diana Souhami (No Modernism Without Lesbians) and last year’s winner Joelle Taylor for her remarkable collection C+nto & Other Poems which explores butch lesbian counterculture in London.

Adam Zmith, Joelle Taylor and James Mayhew Polari Prize 2022 Winner’s Ceremony at the British Library

The shortlist announcement will follow on Wednesday 27th September at Printworks in Hastings with prize judges Sophia Blackwell and VG Lee, and The Polari Prize will return to the British Library for a second year for the winner ceremony on Friday 24th November.

About The Polari Prize

The Polari Prize is the UK and Ireland’s only dedicated LGBTQ+ book prize, founded by author and activist, Paul Burston.

The Polari First Book Prize was launched in 2011 and previous winners include Fiona Mozley, Saleem Haddad, Paul McVeigh, Kirsty Logan, Diriye Osman, John McCullough, Mari Hannah, James Maker, Angela Chadwick, Amrou Al-Kadhi, Mohsin Zaidi and Zmith.

The Polari Prize, founded in 2019, was awarded to Andrew McMillan in its inaugural year, and to Kate Davies in 2020, Diana Souhami in 2021 and Joelle Taylor in 2022.

The award has been covered in a wide range of publications including Metro, the Guardian, the i, Irish Independent, Press Association, Gay Times, Winq and BBC Radio 4, The London Magazine, Wasafiri and elsewhere.

For further details on the prize, please visit polarisalon.com.

Wall to Wall Bowie; Polari Prize 2022 Winner’s Ceremony at the British Library

About Paul Burston

Paul Burston is an author, activist and founder of the Polari Literary Salon and Polari Prizes. A founding editor of Attitude magazine, he has written for many publications including the Guardian, Time Out, The Times and The Sunday Times. He is the author of several non-fiction books, the editor of two short story collections and the author of six novels, including Lovers and Losers, which was shortlisted for the Stonewall Award. His most recent novel is The Closer You Get, published in 2019 by Orenda Books. His memoir We Can Be Heroes was published by Little a in June 2023 to rave reviews from across the industry including from Russell T. Davies and Bernardine Evaristo.

In 2016, he featured in the British Council’s Global List of ‘33 visionary people promotiong freedom equality and LGBT rights around the world’. In March 2016, he was featured in the British Council’s #FiveFilms4Freedom Global List 2016, celebrating “33 visionary people who are promoting freedom, equality and LGBT rights around the world.”