top of page

2023

​

POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2023 - SHORTLIST

 

WINNER - The Whale Tattoo - Jon Ransom (Muswell Press)

None of the Above - Travis Alabanza (Canongate)

Rising of the Black Sheep - Livia Kojo Alour (Polari Press)

The New Life - Tom Crewe (Chatto and Windus)

A Visible Man - Edward Enninful (Bloomsbury)

Love from the Pink Palace - Jill Nalder (Wildfire)

​

​

POLARI PRIZE 2023 - SHORTLIST

​

WINNER - Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield (Picador)

All Down Darkness Wide - Seán Hewitt (Jonathan Cape)  

Here Again Now - Okechukwu Nzelu (Dialogue Books)  

Fire Island - Jack Parlett (Granta Books)  

Young Mungo - Douglas Stuart (Picador)  

The Schoolhouse - Sophie Ward (Corsair) 

 

 

2022

​

POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2022 - SHORTLIST

​​

WINNER - Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers and Queer Futures - Adam Zmith (Repeater Books)​

These Great Athenians - Valentine Carter (Penguin Random House/Imprint 27)

Lessons in Love and Other Crimes - Elizabeth Chakrabarty (Indigo Press)

All the Things She Said - Daisy Jones (Hachette/Coronet Books)

This Much Is True - Miriam Margolyes, (Hachette/John Murray Press)

 

POLARI PRIZE 2022 - SHORTLIST

​​

WINNER - C+nto and Othered Poems - Joelle Taylor (Saqi Books/Westbourne Press)

Address Book - Neil Bartlett (Inkandescent)

Valentine Ackland - Frances Bingham (Handheld Press)

The Origins of Iris - Beth Lewis (Hodder & Stoughton)

Rocksong - Golnoosh Nour (Verve Poetry Press)

​

POLARI CHILDREN'S / YA PRIZE 2022 - SHORTLIST

​

WINNER - Nen and the Lonely Fisherman - Ian Eagleton

The Accidental Diary of B.U.G. - Jen Carney

Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating - Adiba Jaigirdar

Not My Problem - Ciara Smyth

Grandad's Camper - Harry Woodgate

​

​

​

2021

​

POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2021 - SHORTLIST

​​

WINNER - A Dutiful Boy - Mohsin Zaidi

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)

​

​

POLARI PRIZE 2021 - SHORTLIST

​​

WINNER - No Modernism Without Lesbians - Diana Souhami (Head of Zeus)

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)

​

​

2020

​

POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2020 - SHORTLIST

​​

WINNER - Life As A Unicorn - Amrou Al Kadhi

Queer Intentions : A Personal Journey through LGBTQ+ Culture - Amelia Abraham


Sensible Footwear: A Girl’s Guide - a graphic guide to lesbian and queer history 1950-2020 - Kate Charlesworth 

Tell Me I’m Forgiven: The Story of Forgotten Stars Gwen Farrar and Norah Blaney - 
Alison Child 

The Confessions of Frannie Langton - Sara Collins  

The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney - Okechukwu Nzelu


​

​

POLARI PRIZE 2020 - SHORTLIST​​

​

WINNER - In At The Deep End - Kate Davies

Mama’s Boy: A Story from Our Americas - Dustin Lance Black

This Brutal House - Niven Govinden

Blue Wallpaper - Robert Hamberger 

Trans Power: Own Your Gender - Juno Roche

Things We Say in the Dark - Kirsty Logan 

​

​

2019 

​

POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2019 - SHORTLIST

​

WINNER - XX - Angela Chadwick (Dialogue Books) 

Attend - West Camel (Orenda Books)

The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor - Rana Haddad (Hoopoe)

The House On Half-Moon Street - Alex Reeve (Raven)

Soho - Richard Scott (Faber & Faber)

Next Lesson - Chris Woodley (Aurora Metro Books)

The House on Half Moon Street - Alex Reeve (Raven)

​

POLARI PRIZE 2019 - SHORTLIST

​

WINNER - Playtime - Andrew McMillan (Cape Poetry)

Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss (Granta)

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway - Kate Bradbury (Bloomsbury)

Take Nothing With You - Patrick Gale (Tinder) 

Prodigal - Charles Lambert (Gallic)

A Simple Scale - David Llewellyn (Seren)

​

​

POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE SHORTLISTS

​

2018

WINNER - Elmet - Fiona Mozley (John Murray)  

Mussolini’s Island - Sarah Day (Tinder Press) 

Little Gold - Allie Rogers (Legend Press)  

Trans Mission - Alex Bertie (Wren & Rook) 

Pansy Boy - Paul Harfleet (Barbican) 

Carnivore - Jonathan Lyon (HQ)    

​

2017

WINNER - Guapa - Saleem Haddad (Europa Editions UK)

We Go Around In The Night And Are Consumed By Fire - Jules Grant (Myriad)

Straight Jacket - Matthew Todd (Bantam)

The Vegetarian Tigers of Paradise - Crystal Jeans (Honno)

Jerusalem Ablaze - Orlando Ortega-Medina (Cloud Lodge)

Expecting - Chitra Ramaswamy (Saraband)

 

​

2016 

WINNER - The Good Son - Paul McVeigh

Physical - Andrew McMillan

Blood Relatives - Stevan Alcock

Sugar and Snails - Anne Goodwin

Trans - Juliet Jacques

Different for Girls -  Jacquie Lawrence

​

​

2015

WINNER - The Rental Heart - Kirsty Logan (Salt)

Straight Expectations - Julie Bindel (Guardian Books)

The Gift of Looking Closely - Al Brookes (Self-published)

Everything Must Go - LaJohn Joseph (ITNA Press)

Self-portrait with The Happiness - David Tait (Smith/Doorstop books)

The Informant - Susan Wilkins (Pan)

 

​

2014 

WINNER - Fairytales for Lost Children -  Diriye Osman (Team Angelica)

The Palace of Curiosities - Rosie Garland (Harper Collins)

The Rubbish Lesbian - Sarah Westwood (Mimwood Press)

Petite Mort - Beatrice Hitchman (Serpent’s Tail)

God's Other Children - Vernal W. Scott (self published)

I Am Nobody's Nigger - Dean Atta (Westbourne Press)

​

​

2013

WINNER - The Murder Wall - Mari Hannah (Pan Macmillan)

The Tale of Raw Head & Bloody Bones - Jack Wolf (Chatto & Windus)

Catching Bullets - Memoirs of a Bond Fan - Mark O’Connell (Splendid Books)

The Sitar - Rebecca Idris (self published ebook)

Tony Hogan Bought Me An Icecream Float Before He Stole My Ma -  Kerry Hudson (Chatto & Windus)

​

2012

WINNER - The Frost Fairs - John McCullogh (Salt) 

Becoming Nancy - Terry Ronald (Transworld) 

Exit Through The Wound - North Morgan (Limehouse Books)

Modern Love - Max Wallis (Flap) 

Ey Up and Away - Vicky Ryder (Wandering Star Press) 

​

​

2011

WINNER - Autofellatio - James Maker (self published)

Homo Jihad - Timothy Graves

Love, Hope & High Heels - Clare Campbell

London Triptych - Jonathan Kemp

Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar - DJ Connell

​

​

​

​

​

bottom of page