Official website of award-winning LGBTQ+ literary salon 

polari

Jake Arnott
Jake Arnott

Polari at Southbank

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Polari Paul
Polari Paul

Image by Justin David

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Celia Imrie & Fidelis Morgan
Celia Imrie & Fidelis Morgan

Polari at Southbank

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LATEST NEWS

In these uncertain times, you can support Polari’s vital work by buying us a coffee HERE

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POLARI PRIZE 2022

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The Polari Prize awards 2022 are now open for submissions.

There are now three prizes – for debut, non-debut and children’s and YA books.

The submission fee for the non-debut prize is £25 or £15 for the debut/children’s/YA prizes.

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The deadline for submissions is Monday May 2.

This year’s awards are open to books published up to and including Feb 1, 2022.

Books published after this date will be eligible next year.

 

This year’s awards ceremony will be in November, at our new home at The British Library.

For more info, see Polari Prize

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POLARI ON TOUR

 

In October 2021, Polari completed its largest tour to date, supported by a grant from Arts Council England’s Grants for the Arts. Originally planned as a 22 date tour, the tour included 25 dates, many of them online as a result of the pandemic. 

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The Polari Prize Tenth Anniversary Tour showcased writers nominated for the 2020 and 2021 Polari Prize awards for emerging and established LGBTQ+ literary talent, in addition to winners from the Prize’s proud ten year history, dating all the way back to 2011. 

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The tour kicked off at Huddersfield Literature Festival in March 2020 and ended on October 30 2021 when the latest Prize winners were announced as part of the London Literature Festival. 

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The tour also included events in Brighton, Edinburgh, Manchester and at London’s famous nightclub Heaven and legendary LGBTQ+ venue The RVT.

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BACKGROUND

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Founded by author Paul Burston, Polari began in 2007 in a bar in Soho.

 

In 2009, we moved to London’s Southbank Centre.

 

Since 2014, we’ve also toured regularly, funded by Arts Council England.

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We’ve appeared in bars and clubs, at book festivals, libraries, museums and theatres.

 

We also host events online.

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There’s a brief history of Polari on our YouTube channel HERE 

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There’s a history of our touring activities HERE

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There’s a history of The Polari Prize HERE

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For a taste of recent events, you can listen to the Polari podcast HERE

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Writers and performers who’ve appeared at Polari include Adele Anderson, Amrou Al-Kadhi, Jake Arnott, Neil Bartlett, Dustin Lance Black, John Boyne, Russell T Davies, Juno Dawson, Maureen Duffy, Stella Duffy, Carey Wood-Duffy, Janet Ellis, Cerys Evans, Bernardine Evaristo, Patrick Gale, Rosie Garland, Nikita Gill, Salena Godden, Niven Govinden, Garth Greenwell, Alexis Gregory, Saleem Haddad, Mari Hannah, Philip Hensher, Celia Imrie, Juliet Jacques, Keith Jarrett, Jackie Kay, VG Lee, Kirsty Logan, David McAlmont, John McCullough, Val McDermid, Karen McLeod, Andrew McMillan, Paul McVeigh, Charlotte Mendelson, Fiona Mozley, Musa Okwonga, Okechukwu Nzelu, Diriye Osman, Juno Roche, Ali Smith, Diana Souhami, Andrea Stuart, Joelle Taylor, Tracey Thorn, Paula Varjack, Sophie Ward, Sarah Waters and Mohsin Zaidi.

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Polari was named Cultural Event of the Year in the Co-op Respect Loved By You Awards 2013.

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“Always fun, always thought-provoking – a guaranteed great night out” – Sarah Waters

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“Lively, funny and inspiring – a gay-themed salon of interest to anyone remotely interested in literature, whatever their sexual bent” – Patrick Gale

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Coming up

Paul Burston
Paul Burston

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Diana Souhami
Diana Souhami

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Mohsin Zaidi
Mohsin Zaidi

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Sun July 3 - Polari at Bradford Literature Festival 6-7.15pm. £1, £7 & £10

With Adam Lowe, Jill Nalder and Polari Prize winner Diana Souhami.

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Thur July 21 - Polari at the British Library 7-8.30pm. £10 (£5 conc)

With former Polari Prize winners Angela Chadwick, John McCullough and Mohsin Zaidi. Plus we announce this year’s long lists! 

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Aug 4 - Polari at Sangam Festival 7.30-8.30pm. FREE ONLINE

With Tufayel Ahmed, Nikita Gill and Raga D’Silva.

PRAISE FOR POLARI

"The most exciting literary movement in London... crackling with energy, ideas, excitement"

HUFFINGTON POST

 
 

For enquiries, please contact paulburston@btinternet.com

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The Polari literary salon – host to the UK’s only book prizes for emerging and established LGBTQ+ writers – has opened its call to publishers for this year’s awards, including a brand new award for children’s and YA literature.

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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, Diriye Osman, Amrou Al- Kadhi and last year’s winner Mohsin Zaidi for his coming-of-age memoir A Dutiful Boy. 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) and last year’s winner Diana Souhami for No Modernism Without Lesbians.

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In November 2022, to mark the salon’s 15th birthday and the 11th anniversary of the Polari Prize, it will move to its new home at the British Library. The British Library will also collaborate with Polari on upcoming events. 

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Paul Burston, founder of the Polari Literary Salon and Polari Prizes said: ‘As Polari enters its 15th year, the salon continues to go from strength to strength, constantly developing new audiences and showcasing emerging and established LGBTQ+ literary talent across the UK and beyond. Moving to the British Library will enable us to flourish and grow even further. Adding a new category to the Polari Prize awards reconfirms our position as the UK’s leading book awards for LGBTQ+ writing. 2022 promises to be a hugely exciting year.’

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This year, the Polari Salon introduces a new award for children’s and YA literature, shining a spotlight on growing range of wonderful books for children and young adults with LGBTQ+ themes or representation.

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The prize will cover anything published in the 24 months up to and including February 1, 2022 and is open to any children’s or YA book. It will be sponsored by the inclusive children’s books company, Little Box of Books, with a £1000 prize awarded to the winner.

The 24 month period applies to this prize only. The submission fee is £15.


The judges for the inaugural Polari Children’s and YA Prize are Sam Sedgeman – co-author of Nibbies Children’s Book of the Year award-winning Adventures on Trains series, and co-host of the Down the Rabbit Hole children’s books radio show and podcast; Dr Liz Chapman – seen on Twitter as @lgbtlibrarian – a children’s librarian, associate lecturer in education, and researcher on LGBTQ+ literature and libraries; Lynsey Pollard – Founder of Little Box of Books and Zoey Dixon, chair of the Youth Libraries Group London and school librarian Emerson Milford Dickson. The prize will be chaired by author of The Pirate Mums, Jodie Lancet-Grant.

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Jodie said: ‘If we are to create a truly tolerant society, we need to teach our children that anyone can be the hero of the story, whatever their sexuality, gender, or family set up. I started writing books featuring families with same sex parents because I could find so few on the shelves. Thankfully, that’s begun to change in recent years, and I’m delighted to be working with Paul and the Polari team. They’ve done an amazing job at promoting queer writing for adults, and I believe it’s time we do the same for books for children.’

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Leading literary PR consultancy FMcM will continue its sponsorship of the Polari First Book Prize, with the winner receiving a cheque for £1,000. This year the prize continues its tradition of having the winner of the previous year on each judging panel with the remaining judges being made up of a distinguished group of authors and industry professionals.

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For the Polari First Book Prize the judges are author Rachel Holmes, poets Keith Jarrett and Sophia Blackwell and 2021 prize winner Mohsin Zaidi.

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This year’s prize is open to books published in the 12 months up to February 1, 2022. 

The submission fee is £15.

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Now in its fourth year, The Polari Prize will continue to be sponsored by DHH Literary Agency, with the winner receiving a cheque for £2,000.

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The judging panel includes author VG Lee, literary critic Suzi Feay, Chris Gribble of the National Centre for Writing and 2021 prize winner Diana Souhami.

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This year’s prize is open to books published in the 12 months up to February 1, 2022. 

The submission fee is £25. 

 

Both prize panels will be chaired by founder, journalist and author Paul Burston.

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The deadline for submissions is Monday, May 2, 2022.

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Long-lists will be announced later this year, with further programming information and details about events at the British Library still to be announced.

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Eligibility for The Polari Prizes

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a. Any full length novel, graphic novel, novella, short story collection, memoir, biography, non-fiction work or book of poetry written in English by a writer born or based in the UK and Ireland is eligible.

b. Writers must either identify as LGBTQ+ or explore LGBTQ+ themes and characters in the work submitted. In the case of The Polari First Book Prize, priority will be given to books which explore LGBTQ+ themes and characters. Writers working  in all genres are actively encouraged.

c. All entries must be submitted in print form. Proof copies are not accepted. Where books exist only in e-book format, a bound printed copy will be accepted. E-books or PDFs will not be accepted unless specifically requested by the judges.

d. All entries must be first published in the United Kingdom or Ireland between Feb 2, 2021 and Feb 1, 2022, but may have been previously published outside the UK. Titles with simultaneous UK and US publications within this timeframe are eligible.

(In the case of the new prize for children’s and YA books, the timeframe is Feb 2, 2020 to Feb 1, 2022) 

e. Self-published books are eligible for the Prizes. Submissions must include a covering letter explaining why the work was self-published.

f. Authors / publishers are reminded that it is their responsibility to ensure that all submitted titles meet all other requirements for the prize. 

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For all media enquiries please contact Kealey Ridgen or Chloe Rose at FMcM Associates.

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For submissions to the Polari Prize and Polari First Book Prize, please contact Paul Burston

 

For submissions to the new Children’s and YA Prize, please contact Jodie Lancet-Grant 

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