2020 Shortlist for the Polari Book Prize & First Book Prize
It’s exciting to see two authors, one on each shortlist, who came to the shop to promote their books. We loved hosting Amelia Abraham
(Queer Intentions) and Juno Roche (Trans Power) and we highly recommend their books.
Order a copy of any of the shortlisted books today.
2020 Shortlist for the Polari Book Prize & First Book Prize
A visionary exploration of trans identity, a re-interpretation of the gothic novel and a graphic guide to LGBTQ+ cultural history all feature on the shortlists for this year’s Polari Prize and Polari First Book Prize, announced in a digital ceremony hosted by author and founder Paul Burston.
The UK’s only award to celebrate LGBTQ+ literature, Polari marks its 10th birthday in 2020, and in this special anniversary year, Burston praised the exceptional writing talent, diverse styles and subject matter on show in this year’s shortlists.
The winning books from both shortlists will be announced in October.
The Polari First Book Prize 2020 shortlist are:
Queer Intentions: A Personal Journey through LGBTQ+ Culture by Amelia Abraham
Today, the options and freedoms on offer to LGBTQ+ people living in the West are greater than ever before. But is same-sex marriage, improved media visibility and corporate endorsement all it's cracked up to be? At what cost does this acceptance come? And who is getting left behind, particularly in parts of the world where LGBTQ+ rights aren't so advanced?
Combining intrepid journalism with her own personal experience, in Queer Intentions, Amelia Abraham searches for the answers to these urgent challenges, as well as the broader question of what it means to be queer right now.Life As A Unicorn - A Journey From Shame to Pride and Everything In Between by Amrou Al-Kadhi
From a god-fearing Muslim boy enraptured with their mother, to a vocal, queer drag queen estranged from their family, this is a heart-breaking and hilarious memoir about the author's fight to be true to themself
Amrou knew they were gay when, aged ten, they first laid eyes on Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. It was love at first sight.
Sensible Footwear: A Girl’s Guide- a graphic guide to lesbian and queer history 1950-2020 by Kate Charlesworth
Peopled by a cast of gay icons such as Dusty Springfield, Billie Jean King, Dirk Bogarde and Alan Turing, and featuring key moments such as Stonewall, Gay Pride and Section 28, Sensible Footwear: A Girl's Guide, is the first graphic history documenting lesbian life from 1950 to the present. It is a stunning, personal, graphic memoir and a milestone itself in LGBTQI+ history.Tell Me I’m Forgiven: The Story of Forgotten Stars Gwen Farrar and Norah Blaney by Alison Child
Gwen Farrar and Norah Blaney were drawn together by mutual desire and astonishing talent and versatility. They became England's first great female musical comedy double act, singing the popular love songs of the 1920s to each other onstage and making dozens of recordings.
They barely disguised the secret of their lesbian partnership, which was to endure across three decades against all the odds. In this vivid biography, their lives are documented in full for the first time.
The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins
1826, and all of London is in a frenzy. Crowds gather at the gates of the Old Bailey to watch as Frannie Langton, maid to Mr and Mrs Benham, goes on trial for their murder. The testimonies against her are damning - slave, whore, seductress. And they may be the truth. But they are not the whole truth.
A beautiful and haunting tale about one woman's fight to tell her story, The Confessions of Frannie Langton leads you through laudanum-laced dressing rooms and dark-as-night back alleys, into the enthralling heart of Georgian London.
The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney by Okechukwu Nzelu
As Nnenna Maloney approaches womanhood she longs to connect with her Igbo-Nigerian culture. Her once close and tender relationship with her mother, Joanie, becomes strained as Nnenna begins to ask probing questions about her father, who Joanie refuses to discuss.
Okechukwu Nzelu brings us a funny and heart-warming story that covers the expanse of race, gender, class, family and redemption, with a fresh and distinctive new voice.
The Polari Prize 2020 shortlisted books are:
Mama’s Boy: A Story from Our Americas by Dustin Lance Black
Dustin Lance Black wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Milk and helped overturn California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8, but he grew up in a conservative Mormon household outside San Antonio, Texas. When Lance came out to his mother at twenty-one, he was already studying the arts instead of going on his Mormon mission. She derided his sexuality as a sinful choice and was terrified for his future. Mama's Boyexplores what it took to remain a family despite such division -- a journey that stretched from the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to the woodsheds of East Texas. In the end, the rifts that have split a nation couldn't end this relationship that has defined and inspired their remarkable lives.In At The Deep End by Kate Davies
Until recently, Julia hadn't had sex in three years.But now: a one-night stand is accusing her of breaking his penis; a sexually confident lesbian is making eyes at her over confrontational modern art; and she's wondering whether trimming her pubes makes her a bad feminist.
Julia's about to learn that she's been looking for love - and satisfaction - in all the wrong places...
This Brutal House by Niven Govinden
On the steps of New York's City Hall, five ageing Mothers sit in silent protest. They are the guardians of the vogue ball community - queer men who opened their hearts and homes to countless lost Children, providing safe spaces for them to explore their true selves.
Through epochs of city nightlife, from draconian to liberal, the Children have been going missing; their absences ignored by the authorities and uninvestigated by the police. In a final act of dissent the Mothers have come to pray: to expose their personal struggle beneath our age of protest, and commemorate their loss until justice is served. Niven Govinden asks what happens when a generation remembered for a single, lavish decade has been forced to grow up, and what it means to be a parent in a confused and complex society.Blue Wallpaper by Robert Hamberger
Through the six sections of Blue Wallpaper – his fourth collection – Robert Hamberger explores family and friendship, the limits of masculinity, variations on Rimbaud sonnets, animal encounters, developing a queer identity and moving to the sea.
His voice is intimate, questing and questioning, using the prism of personal experience to search themes of memory, home, ageing and love.
Trans Power: Own Your Gender by Juno Roche
In this radical and emotionally raw book, Juno Roche pushes the boundaries of trans representation by redefining 'trans' as an identity with its own power and strength, that goes beyond the gender binary.
Through intimate conversations with leading and influential figures in the trans community, this book highlights the diversity of trans identities and experiences with regard to love, bodies, sex, race and class, and urges trans people - and the world at large - to embrace a 'trans' identity as something that offers empowerment and autonomy.
Powerfully written, and with humour and advice throughout, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of gender and how we identify ourselves.Things We Say in the Dark by Kirsty Logan
A shocking collection of dark stories, ranging from chilling contemporary fairytales to disturbing supernatural fiction, by a talented writer who has been compared to Angela Carter. These dark tales explore women's fears with electrifying honesty and invention and speak to one another about female bodies, domestic claustrophobia, desire and violence. From a talented writer who has been compared to Angela Carter, Things We Say in the Dark is a powerful contemporary collection of feminist stories, ranging from vicious fairy tales to disturbing horror and tender ghost stories.
Order one of the shortlisted books today.
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