This year’s Polari Prize has been canceled following a controversy over longlisted Irish novelist John Boyne, the Guardian reports.
Boyne was longlisted for the Polari Book Prize, one of the two Polari awards, for his novella Earth, which is collected in the forthcoming book The Elements. His nomination was condemned by many in the LGBTQ+ community who objected to his views on transgender people: Boyne has described himself as a “TERF,” or “trans-exclusionary radical feminist,” a term for women’s rights supporters who do not believe that transgender women are actually women.
After news of his nomination broke, more than half of the authors longlisted for the awards, along with two judges, withdrew from the prize in protest.
Boyne responded to the withdrawals on the social platform X, suggesting that the controversy had harmed his mental health, and asking that the writers who withdrew reconsider. If they did, he said, he would ask that Earth not be considered for the prize.
On the social platform X, the prize organizers wrote, “We have decided…to pause the prize this year while we increase representation of trans and gender-nonconforming 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 extend our heartfelt apologies to everyone affected this year, for the disappointment and despair this has caused.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
