Nicola Dinan, Jon Ransom & Sarah Hagger-Holt Win The 2024 Polari Prizes

Returning to the British Library for another year, three incredible writers have just been revealed as the 2024 Polari Prize winners: Nicola Dinan, Jon Ransom and Sarah Hagger-Holt.

Winners Revealed For The 2024 Polari Prizes

The winners are in: Nicola Dinan has won the Polari First Book Prize for Bellies and Jon Ransom has won the Polari Book Prize for The Gallopers. After winning the Polari First Book Prize last year for his debut, The Whale Tattoo, Ransom is the first writer in the Prize’s history to bag a back-to-back win. The winners were revealed at a sparkling ceremony at the British Library this evening, beating out a shortlist of talented writers.

‘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,’ shares Paul Burston, founder and chair of judges. ‘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.’

Meanwhile, Sarah Hagger-Holt won the bi-annual Polari Children’s & YA Prize for The Fights That Make Us, a heart-warming tale of acceptance which draws on LGBTQ+ history.

Dinan and Hagger-Holt were both awarded a £1,000 cheque, while Ransom was awarded a £2,000 cheque. All three winners will also receive a package holiday of their choice thanks to headline sponsor easyJet holidays.

Speaking to C&TH, Dinan commented on the Polari Prize: ‘It always just feels nice to be recognised, particularly for a prize that has a very specific vision in uplifting certain stories. And particularly for a book like Bellies, which focuses on trans characters, it feels very special because there aren’t a lot of trans writers in the UK or even globally, who are recognized in mainstream publishing. So it feels just a wonderful opportunity.’

Commenting on the First Book Prize, which he judged as last year’s winner, Ransom called Dinan’s Bellies ‘wonderfully modern, timely and complex’. He added Bellies ‘is a call to move beyond judgement towards perception – a book that deserves to be read.’

Meanwhile, Garry Wilson, judge of the Polari Book Prize, said Ransom’s writing ‘continues to both dazzle and unsettle’ in The Gallopers. ‘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,’ Wilson says. ‘A writer of original, breathtaking talent, The Gallopers should already be considered as a novel worthy to take its place amongst the canon of queer literature.’

Meanwhile, Jodie Lancet-Grant judged the Polari Children’s and YA Prize this year. She says: ‘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 the book.’