Jon Ransom wins second Polari Prize

The winners of the 2024 Polari Prizes were announced as Nicola Dinan, Jon Ransom and Sarah Hagger-Holt at a ceremony at the British Library tonight.

Dinan took home the Polari First Book Prize for her tale of young love and transformation, Bellies (Penguin).

Ransom received the Polari Book Prize for his story of a tense and mesmerising love triangle, The Gallopers (Muswell Press), making him the first-ever winner of two successive Polari Prizes.

Meanwhile, Sarah Hagger-Holt was awarded the biannual Polari Children’s and YA Prize for The Fights That Make Us (Usborne), a heart-warming tale of acceptance, which draws on LGBTQ+ history.

Paul Burston, founder and chair of judges for both adult categories, said: “At first glance, this year’s prize-winning novels couldn’t be more different—one contemporary, the other historical; one urban, the other rural; one exploring the trans experience from a modern British, cross-cultural perspective, the other looking at working class gay lives in 1950s Norfolk. But both push the boundaries of LGBTQ fiction; both feature the formal device of a play within the main narrative; and both explore the loves and lives of queer characters in surprising new ways. Beautifully written, deeply moving and dazzlingly original, these are novels destined to become modern classics.”

The Polari First Book Prize winner receives a cheque for £1,000 from sponsors FMcM Associates, who also run pro-bono PR and marketing for the Polari Prizes. The Polari Book Prize winner receives a cheque for £2,000 from sponsors D H H Literary Agency. The Polari Children’s & YA Prize winner receives a cheque for £1,000 from sponsors Ash Literary. All three winners will receive the prize of a package holiday of their choice from sponsors easyJet.

Ransom, judge of the Polari First Book Prize and last year’s winner, said: “Wonderfully modern, timely and complex, Bellies is a call to move beyond judgement towards perception—a book that deserves to be read.”

Garry Wilson, judge of the Polari Book Prize and c.e.o of easyJet holidays, said: “Jon Ransom’s writing continues to both dazzle and unsettle. His unique signature style is his uncanny ability to convey so much through such an economy of words that effortlessly captures the lives and dialogue of his complex characters, as well as the oppressive environment they live in. A writer of original, breathtaking talent, The Gallopers, should already be considered as a novel worthy to take its place among the canon of queer literature.”

Jodie Lancet-Grant, judge of the Polari Children’s and YA Prize, said: “The entire panel adored The Fights That Make Us. We found the way that Sarah weaves two timelines—one around growing up in the 1980s under Section 28—and one set in the present day—together, effective and moving. We also loved the form; half of the book is presented in diary format, which provided an extra layer of emotion to book.”