The Polari Prize 2021 Winners
It is our great pleasure to confirm No Modernism Without Lesbians by Diana Souhami as the winner of the 2021 Polari Book Prize and A Dutiful Boy by Mohsin Zaidi as the winner of the 2021 Polari First Book Prize.
The Polari Prize is the UK’s first and largest LGBTQ+ book award. Established to promote writing that explores the LGBTQ+ experience, Polari also focuses on amplifying diverse voices through a series of literary events, including the regularly touring Polari Salon.
The Polari Book Prize
Award-winning biographer Diana Souhami’s No Modernism Without Lesbians paints a fascinating group portrait of four trailblazing women in interwar Paris – the pioneering publisher Sylvia Beach, writer and patron of the arts Bryher, society hostess Natalie Barney, and the seminal author Gertrude Stein – whose life, work and legacy became crucial to the development of Modernist movement.
'Richly researched, entertaining and hugely enjoyable. [...] Souhami is a brilliant guide and this book a celebration, corrective and fillip all in one.'
CHRIS GRIBBLE, JUDGE OF THE POLARI BOOK PRIZE
The Polari Book Prize 2021 Shortlist
The Polari Book Prize 2021 Longlist
The Polari First Book Prize
A powerful, unflinching story of self-discovery and perseverance, Criminal Barrister Mohsin Zaidi’s memoir A Dutiful Boy traces his path from growing up queer in a devout Muslim family to living his life true to every part of his identity.
‘Zaidi deftly engages us with the harsh, hilarious and inherently human realities of multiple identity. With painful honesty, he shows how no community of class, race, faith or queerness is immune from suspicion and occasional hatred of otherness, nor mercifully from love, laughter and acceptance.’
RACHEL HOLMES, JUDGE OF THE 2021 POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE
The Polari Book Prize 2021 Shortlist
The Polari First Book Prize 2021 Longlist
Strange Fruit by Jason Ford is also nominated but unfortunately is currently unavailable from Waterstones.com and thus not listed below.
Previous Winners
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