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Armfield and Ransom win 2023 Polari Prize with novels which 'entertain and seduce'
Jon Ransom and Julia Armfield have won this year’s Polari Prizes, taking home £3,000 collectively.
Ransom took home the Polari First Book Prize, worth £1,000, for what organisers dubbed “a mesmerising tale of grief and love”, The Whale Tattoo (Muswell Press). Armfield received the Polari Book Prize for her “hypnotic and haunting deep-sea romance”, Our Wives Under the Sea (Picador), netting £2,000.
Organisers said: “This year, both winning titles explore complex landscapes and elusive narratives that ask the reader to imagine all possibilities, build new stories and inspire hope; expanding on what LGBTQ+ literature can be.”
Our Wives Under the Sea from London-based author and playwright Armfield triumphed against contenders including Sophie Ward and Booker Prize-winning Douglas Stuart, as revealed by the shortlisting announcement in September. Armfield’s entry, Our Wives Under the Sea, was described by Joelle Taylor, judge of the Polari Book Prize and last year’s winner, as “opening up what we believe is possible from queer writing". Turner added: "It is a strange, speculative, poetic and thrilling novel – a heart turner as much as a page turner”.
Meanwhile Ransom, who is based in Cambridgeshire, beat off competition from former Vogue editor Edward Enninful and LRB editor Tom Crewe. Adam Zmith, judge of the Polari First Book Prize and last year’s winner, said: “Jon Ransom’s novel is suffused with salt air and gay longing. It transported me to a life that is not my own, and yet one where I recognised myself, too. Ransom conjures up gorgeously evocative images for his hostile locations and finds love and energy there.”
Paul Burston, founder and chair of judges for both categories, said of the two winning books: “These are novels which entertain, seduce and provoke thought. They take us out of ourselves and invite us to explore other worlds."
