Douglas Stuart, Paul Mendez and Mohsin Zaidi named in intersectional and diverse Polari Prize shortlists

Books that explore the meeting points of class, race and sexuality dominate the two 6-book shortlists for both the 2021 Polari Prizes, the UK’s only literary awards for LGBTQ+ literature.

In the Polari First Book Prize, Paul Mendez’s novel Rainbow Milk explores the intersection of class, race, sexuality and religion across different generations, while Forced Out by Kevin Maxwell recounts the author’s experience of working in the police force as a gay black man from a working- class background. These are joined by barrister Mohsin Zaidi’s memoir of growing up in a strict Muslim family (A Dutiful Boy), alongside Tomasz Jędrowski’s Soviet Union-set novel Swimming in the Dark, Douglas Stuart’s Booker Prize winning novel Shuggie Bain, and Andreena Leeanne’s cathartic poetry collection Charred.

In the Polari Prize shortlist (which awards an overall Book of the Year, excluding debuts) the intersection of sexuality and religion is also explored in Iranian author Golnoosh Nour’s collection The Ministry of Guidance and other stories. This sits alongside Steven Appleby’s graphic novel Dragman, as well as poetry from Caroline Bird (The Air Year) and Rosie Garland (What Girls Do In The Dark), while Neil Blackmore’s novel The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle and Diana Souhami’s study No Modernism Without Lesbians makes up the rest of the Polari Prize shortlist.

The Polari First Book Prize 2021 shortlist:

•  Swimming In The Dark - Tomasz Jędrowski (Bloomsbury)
•  Charred - Andreena Leeanne (Team Angelica)
•  Forced Out - Kevin Maxwell (Granta)
•  Rainbow Milk - Paul Mendez (Dialogue Books)
•  Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart (Picador)
•  A Dutiful Boy - Mohsin Zaidi (Square Peg)

The Polari Prize 2021 shortlist:

• Dragman - Steven Appleby (Vintage)
•  The Air Year - Caroline Bird (Carcanet)
• The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle - Neil Blackmore (Windmill)
• What Girls Do in the Dark - Rosie Garland (Nine Arches Press)
• The Ministry of Guidance - Golnoosh Nour (Muswell Press)
• No Modernism Without Lesbians - Diana Souhami (Head of Zeus)

Both shortlists were announced this evening at a Polari Salon event at London’s legendary LGBTQ+ venue Heaven.

Author, Polari Prize founder and Chair of Judges, Paul Burston said:  “ This year’s shortlists are our most diverse ever, with a wide variety of writers working across different genres to explore the intersections between sexuality, gender, race, class, religion and more. These 12 remarkable books include tales of resilience and celebration, love and pride, exploring the LGBTQ+ experience with emotional honesty, humour, passion and joy.”

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 winner of the 2021 Polari Prizes will be announced at an in-person ticketed event at the Southbank Centre on 30 October.

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Notes to Editors

About the Polari First Book Prize
The Polari First Book Prize was launched in 2011 and previous winners include Angela Chadwick, Saleem Haddad, Paul McVeigh, Kirsty Logan, Diriye Osman, John McCullough, Mari Hannah, James Maker and Amrou Al-Kadhi. The Polari First Book Prize is sponsored by leading literary PR consultancy, FMcM Associates. The winner will receive a cheque for £1,000.

About The Polari Prize
The Polari Prize was established in 2019 and will award an overall Book of the Year. It is open to writers at any stage of their career (except debuts). Its inaugural winner was Andrew McMillan, who won the award in 2019 for his intimate poetry collection Playtime, while last year the award was won by Kate Davies for her comic novel In At The Deep End. The Polari Prize is sponsored by D H H Literary Agency. The winner will receive a cheque for £2,000.

About Polari Literary Salon

Polari Literary Salon began in 2007 in the upstairs room of a bar in Soho. Since 2009, events have been held regularly at London’s Southbank Centre and often sell out. The salon also tours annually, funded by Arts Council England, and has appeared all across the UK and Ireland. In 2013, Polari was named ‘LGBT Cultural Event of the Year’ in the Co-op Respect Loved By You Awards. In 2016, the British Council named Polari founder Paul Burston as one of “33 visionary people who are promoting freedom, equality, and LGBT rights around the world.”

About Paul Burston
Paul Burston is an author 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. 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.” His latest novel is The Closer You Get, published in 2019 as part of a two- book deal with Orenda Books. He has since written a memoir and is working on his seventh novel.