Spoken phrase poet Joelle Taylor has received the Polari guide prize for her assortment which “defends our proper to stroll with out worry, put on what we select, be who we uniquely are”.
C+nto & Othered Poems, which explores the UK’s underground lesbian tradition, was named the winner of the £2,000 prize, which is the highest award within the UK’s solely devoted awards for LGBTQ+ literature. It’s the second main award for the guide, which received the TS Eliot prize earlier this year.
The Polari first guide prize was awarded to Adam Smith’s debut Deep Sniff, a guide concerning the historical past of poppers and their position in queer life.
Journalist and creator Paul Burston, who based the prizes, mentioned that each books “pay tribute to very important elements of LGBTQ+ cultural historical past that are all too typically neglected.
“These are books as battle cries, as triumphs over adversity, as shamelessly homosexual gossip and the pursuit of delight regardless of all of the heartaches of the previous,” he added.
C+nto & Othered Poems began as a spoken-word poem about butch lesbian counterculture. Taylor’s years of partying and protesting in London impressed the guide, and in an interview with the Guardian she mentioned that “whereas it was a really oppressive time, it galvanised us and introduced us all collectively”.
Diana Souhami, who received the 2021 prize and was a decide this 12 months, mentioned that Taylor has a “Midas contact with phrases”.
“C+nto will open eyes, hearts and minds,” she added. “Right here is poetry that defends our proper to stroll with out worry, put on what we select, be who we uniquely are.”
Kate Kellaway, reviewing the book in the Observer, mentioned it’s “a passionate reconjuring of Nineteen Eighties-90s butch lesbian counterculture in London”.
Smith wins £1,000 for the primary guide prize, for a guide Burston – who served as chair of judges for the Polari prize on each panels – mentioned was “a witty, nicely researched and floor breaking guide which honours our queer previous whereas additionally seeking to the long run”.
The primary guide prize was judged by creator Rachel Holmes, poets Keith Jarrett and Sophia Blackwell and 2021 prize winner Mohsin Zaidi.
The general prize was judged by creator VG Lee, literary critic Suzi Feay, Chris Gribble of the Nationwide Centre for Writing and Souhami.
The inaugural Polari kids’s & YA prize was received by Nen and the Lonely Fisherman by Ian Eagleton and James Mayhew.
The guide is a couple of merman referred to as Nen who ventures to the forbidden world above and meets Ernest, a lonely fisherman.
Creator and chair of the judges for the prize, Jodie Lancet-Grant, mentioned the guide “does one thing vital and radical by centring a queer love story in an image guide for younger kids”.
“The story is progressive and shifting, and the paintings really gorgeous,” she added. The winners had been introduced in a ceremony held on the British Library.
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