Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Miscellaneous | August 8, 2025
The Polari Prize is an annual literary prize in the UK dedicated to LGBTQ+ literature. Founded in 2011, it has celebrated writers like Kirsty Logan, Julia Armfield, and Joelle Taylor. Among its longlisted nominees for the prize in fiction is Earth by John Boyne. You may know him best as the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a piece of Holocaust porn so offensive that the Auschwitz Museum called him out for it. He’s also become known in Britain and Ireland for his proud transphobia.
In a July 2025 column for the Irish Independent, he called himself a ‘fellow TERF’ in a piece where he proclaimed himself to be ‘in awe’ of J.K. Rowling and that he ‘stand[s] four-square behind her.’ He then claimed that cis women who support trans rights as ‘complicit in their own erasure’ and ‘ready to pin down a handmaiden as her husband rapes her.’ So, you can imagine how offended many were by the decision to include his work as one of the ‘best’ LGBTQ+ novels of the year.
The news inspired immediate backlash. Writers like Patrick Ness spoke out over it.
You can't call yourself "a prize for LGBTQ+ literature" and longlist a self-proclaimed terf. Anyone can give any prize to anyone they like, of course. But don't pretend you're a prize for my community when you're platforming someone who's actively fighting against it.
— Patrick Ness (@patricknessbooks.bsky.social) August 1, 2025 at 2:38 PM
It’s not only that trans people are not an issue or debate. It’s that the Polari Prize is meant to be for LGBTQ+ people. If the Jhalak Prize, for writers of colour, longlisted someone who was Islamophobic then that too would be inappropriate for the prize specifically as well as for being ethical
— Dr Phoenix CS Andrews (@thatdocphoenix.com) August 7, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Eventually, novelist Nicola Dinan withdrew from her position as a judge of the Polari Prize over the inclusion of Boyne. The prize committee was eventually forced to make a statement, in which they said they were sad by the hurt caused by the proud TERF’s presence on the list but that they wouldn’t be removing him.
The Polari Prize was founded on the core principles of diversity and inclusion. We are committed to supporting trans rights and amplifying trans voices, as demonstrated both in the history of the prize and the Polari salon, where trans and non-binary writers and performers have featured regularly as valued members of the LGBTQ+ writing community.The role of the prize is to discover the best LGBTQ+ books written in the UK and Ireland each year. The books are read and deliberated over by the jury, and progress through the competition stages on the merits of craft and content. The Polari prize is awarded to books in a spirit of celebration of the work and the stories they tell. We have always cherished freedom of expression in our determination to find our voice both as writers and readers. It is inevitable given the challenges we face and the diversity of the lived experience we now represent under the LGBTQ+ Polari umbrella, that even within our community, we can at times hold radically different positions on substantive issues. This is one of those times.
John Boyne’s novel Earth was included on The Polari Prize longlist on merit as judged by our jury, following the process and principles stated above. While we do not eliminate books based on the wider views of a writer, we regret the upset and hurt this has caused. Polari is committed to inclusion, not exclusion. The resignation of our valued judge and former First Book Prize-winner Nicola Dinan causes us great sadness. Nonetheless we completely understand and respect her decision.
Books are one of our best means to explore the most difficult and divisive issues, and we encourage an open dialogue across our community. It remains deeply important to us that trans and non-binary readers and writers feel welcome, safe and supported by the Polari Prize and the Polari Salon and continue to participate in our movement as readers, writers and performers.
It seemed to many, myself included, that claiming you’re committed to supporting trans rights, then elevating a man who claims that women supporting said thing are equivalent to accessories to rape, are contradictory ideas. Describing Boyne’s proud bigotry and support for a hate campaign as just a ‘radically different position on substantive issues’ is insulting and greatly downplays the gravity of the situation (as well as, yet again, turning trans safety into a ‘topic of discourse’, akin to debating which McDonald’s to get your lunch from.) What is there to ‘explore’ when it comes to asking some trans authors to attend events alongside a man who thinks they’re mentally ill and predatory? Safety, my foot.
Following this weak statement, several longlisted authors announced that they were withdrawing their books from the prize. This included Mae Diansangu, Jason Okundaye, and Amy Twigg.
Was very excited to announce being longlisted for Polari First Book prize…how quickly the joy was sucked out of that lol. Gave Polari a chance to make a statement before sharing my thoughts and their non apology is absolutely rotten. Have asked for my name to be withdrawn from the list ☺️
— Mae Diansangu (@vavapoetry.bsky.social) August 8, 2025 at 5:58 AM
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This whole thing is disheartening in so many ways. It’s yet another reminder of how transphobes seek to divide the LGBTQ+ community, which is statistically far more united on trans rights than the tabloids claim, and further marginalize an already abused minority group. The idea that rampant bigotry towards people under your own umbrella is just a different perspective we should respect is insulting, but it’s also just wrong. What ‘safe space’ would ever demand that of someone?
And, of course, now the prize is tainted. Either they remove Boyne and he turns it into a big public spectacle where the press rallies on his side further to denigrate trans people as the ‘real oppressors’, or it goes forward with him present, and the Polari committee risks losing any credibility they once possessed. LGBTQ+ voices are already so underrepresented in mainstream publishing, and a prize like this was meant to do some good in elevating them. Now, it’s chosen to bolster a transphobic creep comparing women to rapists as he acts as a goon for J.K. Rowling.
Writer Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin has recently created an author open statement for those in the industry to sign in solidarity with the trans community following the Polari Prize’s mess.
