After controversy over the inclusion of a novelist accused of being trans exclusionary on the 2025 longlist, the Polari Prizes are cancelling this year’s edition.
The Polari First Book Prize was established to celebrate new writing with a focus on LGBTIQ issues by writers born or based in the UK and Ireland by Paul Burston in 2011. It borrows from the term “Polari,” a term in the gay subculture in that part of the world. Previous winners of the prize include Angela Chadwick, Fiona Mozley, Saleem Haddad, Paul McVeigh, Kirsty Logan, Diriye Osman, John McCullough, Mari Hannah, and James Maker. In 2019, the prize expanded to the Polaris Book Prize, open to writers at any stage of their career (except debuts).
The 2025 jury, chaired by Paul Burston alongside author Nicola Dinan (Polari First Book Prize winner 2024), author Jon Ransom (Polari Book Prize winner 2024 and Polari First Book Prize winner 2023), author Lou Morgan, and book blogger Bob Hughes, announced the longlists on Friday, August 1. That longlist featured five writers of African descent, which is why we did a story about it.
As soon as the longlists were made public, activists revealed that John Boyne, whom they accused of being a Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist, was on the longlist. Nominees and even jury members withdrew from the award.
On August 11, the award issued a statement explaining why they included the controversial writer’s novel in the longlist. They were determined to continue with the process by announcing the shortlist.
It read in part, “John Boyne’s novel Earth was included on The Polari Prize longlist on merit as judged by our jury, following the process and principles stated above. While we do not eliminate books based on the wider views of a writer, we regret the upset and hurt this has caused. Polari is committed to inclusion, not exclusion. The resignation of our valued judge and former First Book Prize-winner Nicola Dinan causes us great sadness. Nonetheless we completely understand and respect her decision.”
On August 12, a new statement from the writing community emerged, standing in solidarity with the trans community, signed by many writers, including Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, C. L. Polk, and Rochelle Dowden-Lord.
The statement read in part, “We believe in the celebration of LGBTQ+ voices in UK publishing. We want there to be a literary prize that recognises the vital importance of queer and trans stories. That’s why we’re calling on the Polari Prize to formally remove Mr Boyne from the longlist, to restore the integrity of this prize as a safe, inclusive and celebratory space for the LGBTQ+ community.”
On August 18, award organisers put out a new communique announcing that the 2025 edition of the award was cancelled. Here is the statement in full;
Polari is part of the LGBTQ+ writing and reading community and for fifteen years, trans, gender non-conforming and non-binary people have been part of that community – at our events, on our judging panels, on our long and short lists and among our prize winners. This commitment to inclusion remains unchanged. Polari is not and has never been a trans exclusionary organisation. These are not our values and we condemn all forms of transphobia.
What was supposed to be a celebration of exceptional LGBTQ+ literature has been overshadowed by hurt and anger, which has been painful and distressing for all concerned and we apologize to everyone who has been affected.
Many discussions have been undertaken over the last two weeks -with authors, judges, stakeholders, and funders – about the impacts and ramifications of the longlisting of John Boyne’s novel and how we can learn from this experience and move forwards.
We have decided as a result to pause the prize this year while we increase representation of trans and gender non-conforming judges on the panels for all the awards and undertake a governance and management review to include our aims and values and work to better support everyone within our LGBTQ+ Polari community. We have already secured strong representation for next year, which we will build on.
We will also explore discussions about the tensions between the claims of freedom of expression and the need to create inclusive and supportive spaces in a world hostile to our trans community members and our community at large.
We extend our heartfelt apologies to everyone affected this year, for the disappointment and despair this has caused.
We acknowledge the ongoing support of the Polari community, everyone we have consulted, and our hugely supportive partners. We are a tiny operation that has run on goodwill and small pots of funding and sponsorship for 15 years and will endeavour to find a way forwards in good faith.
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