Davies, Al-Kadhi win 2020 Polari Prizes

In the UK, writers Kate Davies and Amrou Al-Kadhi have won the 2020 Polari Prizes for work that explores the LGBT experience, reports the Bookseller.

Davies won the £2000 (A$3640) Polari Prize for her novel In at the Deep End (HarperCollins), which judge Andrew McMillan called ‘an open, generous, bold and unashamedly commercial novel that deals quite rarely with lesbian love, lesbian sex and lesbian eroticism’.

Al-Kadhi won the £1000 (A$1820) Polari First Book Prize for their memoir Life as a Unicorn (Fourth Estate), which tells of the author’s journey from ‘god-fearing Muslim boy’ enraptured with their mother, to a vocal, queer drag queen estranged from their family. The judges said Al-Kadhi’s memoir offers a ‘unique perspective at the intersection of gender, race and sexuality whilst being highly emotive and deeply moving’.

The winners were chosen from shortlists announced earlier this year.

Category: International news