Organizers Halt LGBTQ+ Literary Awards After Backlash

The Polari Prize , one of the U.K.’s leading LGBTQ+ literary honors, will not be awarded this year following a controversy surrounding the longlisting of author John Boyne, author of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’, organizers announced Monday. This is an update as well as a change in direction by the organization after their previous statement .

In a statement, the prize committee said it would pause the 2025 awards to conduct a governance review and expand representation of transgender and gender non-conforming voices on its judging panels. The decision follows two weeks of debate and criticism over Boyne’s inclusion, which prompted multiple authors and judges to withdraw in protest.

“Polari is not and has never been a trans ex

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