Polari Prize 2023 shortlists announced

In the UK, the shortlists for the 2023 Polari Prizes for LGBTQ+ literature have been announced.

The titles shortlisted for the £2000 (A$3820) Polari Prize, which awards an overall book of the year, excluding debuts, are:

• Our Wives Under the Sea (Julia Armfield, Picador)
• All Down Darkness Wide (Seán Hewitt, Jonathan Cape)
• Here Again Now (Okechukwu Nzelu, Dialogue)
• Fire Island: A queer history (Jack Parlett, Granta)
• Young Mungo (Douglas Stuart, Picador)
• The Schoolhouse (Sophie Ward, Corsair).

The works shortlisted for the £1000 (A$1910) Polari First Book Prize are:

• None of the Above: Reflections on life beyond the binary (Travis Alabanza, Canongate)
• Rising of the Black Sheep (Livia Kojo Alour, Polari Press)
• The New Life (Tom Crewe, Chatto & Windus)
• A Visible Man (Edward Enninful, Bloomsbury)
• Love from the Pink Palace: Memories of love, loss, and cabaret through the AIDS crisis (Jill Nalder, Wildfire)
• The Whale Tattoo (Jon Ransom, Muswell Press).

Prize founder Paul Burston said: ‘The quality of longlisted titles this year was so exceptionally high, a number of much-loved titles didn’t make the shortlists.’

‘Taken together, this year’s shortlists are a powerful testament to the quality and diversity of LGBTQ+ writing in the UK and Ireland today,’ Burston said. ‘From dazzling debuts to writers delivering on their earlier promise and really upping their game, these are books to entertain, enrich and inspire.’

Last year’s Polari Prize winner was Joelle Taylor for her poetry collection C+nto & Othered Poems (The Westbourne Press) and the Polari First Book Prize went to Adam Zmith for Deep Sniff (Watkins).

The winners of the 2023 Polari Prizes will be announced in London on 24 October.

Category: Awards International news