Polari prize nominees withdraw over inclusion of 'terf' John Boyne

[QAOPspaceman]

A third of the nominated authors and a judge have withdrawn from the Polari prize because John Boyne, apparently a self-confessed terf (!) and friend of JK Rowling (!!!), is nominated. He wrote The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and has previously said "while I will happily employ any term that a person feels best defines them... I reject the notion that someone can force an unwanted term on to another" so is clearly a fascist.

Have never read his stuff but am tempted to order his complete works immediately.

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/polari-prize-will-review-processes-after-a-third-of-nominated-authors-withdraw-books-from-longlist

https://archive.ph/J39nH

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyvme385e6o.amp

Thought this bbc article struck a good, critical tone. And I'm not sure it was an accident that under the subhead 'which authors objected?' the first one mentioned was a bloke called Sasha Coward!

Thanks to the pp who flagged up The Heart’s Invisible Furies is 99p on Kindle - can’t find original post, sorry - got it last night.

You would have thought these days were almost over but Boyne is getting the full-on JKR treatment in exactly the same way, in that it is clear that his statement has not been read or taken on board with any good faith by his critics, who now see him as some cartoon bogeyman.

That statement from the prize goes on about upset - I charitably thought that may include the significant upset to JB - but as they mention him only by name, I guess not. How cruel. He has done nothing wrong. And now online bullies are happy to treat a gay man as if he has no claim to an LGBTQ+ prize. It is shameful, intolerant behaviour and I hope the Polari Prize is finished for it.

And now online bullies are happy to treat a gay man as if he has no claim to an LGBTQ+ prize.

You are spot on here. Gay men are going to feel like "women" soon as they have to make way for trans inclusivity.
It makes me very sad that a good man is being treated like this.

It's our ball, we don't like you John Boyne you're nasty and we don't want to play with you so we're going home and taking our ball with us and everybody will hate you because you made us do it by being nasty, so there!

Very mature🙄

The cry bullies could set up their own prize for people with the approved opinions.

I was thinking of The Polarise Book of the Year. Competition will be fierce , possibly even lethally so.

The cry bullies could set up their own prize for people with the approved opinions

They’d still end up squabbling and cancelling g each other (see French revolution’s reign of terror)

Exactly this.

I’m so upset at this outcome. I don’t always love John Boyne as an author, I like some of his books more than others. As a person, I’m in awe of him. He’s amazing.

I’m in Ireland, it is still really hard for certain positions to be stated overtly. The article that’s been objected to by those connected with the Polari prize is so tempered and even mild in terms of what could be said, and focused on supporting JKR. A few weeks before that he wrote an eviscerating, brave article in the Sunday Independent, calling out how the Pride movement has been captured here in Ireland, to now essentially exclude lesbian & gay people. He hates the term ‘queer’ and was eloquent about why.

There’s almost no coverage in the Irish media about what’s happening to him, and while he is certain that he doesn’t care, I fear he’ll be, if not cancelled with his work, erased from the public landscape, media interviews and so on. It’s awful.

I posted upthread about all this <gestures wildly> being an informal section 28 aimed at people with GC beliefs, or in effect reality.

Well, at least some of the tras are trying to formalise it. Doesn't look like it's going to get anywhere which sort of disappoints me. I'd like to see it debated in parliament.

This is the person who started the petition, whose entire life seems to be TQ+.

About Hannah-Rose Tristram – We have fallen into the place where everything is music – Rumi https://share.google/JOxzC2DKUFq2T1Ayw

I've been ringside at this rodeo for 8 years (a moment, compared so some here) and every so often something so outrageous happens that I find it impossible to even start listing all the ways in which it is sinister, offensive, frightening, dangerous, appalling... etc etc.

This is one of those occurrences.

Have bought the hardback of Earth, which is the very least I can do. My heart goes out to John Boyne.

For those buying Earth - it's part of a quartet - Water, Earth, Fire and Air.
Best to read in order (certainly read Air last), but Earth is a good standalone.

Some disappointing names on that list (amidst the nonentities). Never mind, the type of fiction I like has plenty of offerings to choose from, so less of a boycott, more a dropping down to the bottom of a very long list in future.
I’m sure a lot of authors I read have views on gender that are different to my own and that isn’t a problem at all. Where it becomes a problem and affects who I spend my money on is when they put their names to a bullying cancellation attempt such as that.

John Boyne has written more about the latest in the Telegraph

https://archive.ph/niINf

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/john-boyne-heres-what-happened-when-they-tried-to-cancel-me/

It's witty and compassionate. I'm relieved it is confirmed that he actually wasn't feeling suicidal.

Or the Judean People's Front and People's Front of Judea

I've just ordered Earth from my local extremely "Queer" bookshop. Obviously they didn't have it in, despite having progress flags and trans flags festooned everywhere, because he's only gay, so not worth promoting 🙄

That is a fantastic article. Full of common sense and compassion. Also really witty and waspish (‘exiled to Elba’)

I'm disappointed, as was he, that no one from the Polari Prize has contacted him. That is cowardly and frankly unprofessional.

It's also interesting that he doesn't mention his own publisher/editor/publicist. I wonder where they stand on it?

That’s a great article and I’m also relieved that I misinterpreted the “can’t go on” part of his earlier statement.

ive never read any of his books, but I’ve ordered the one that’s 99p on kindle. I’ll need something else to looking forward to read after the new Strike release in a couple of weeks! And I like his writing from the articles he’s written, so I’ll see whether I get on with his storytelling.

To be polite, it lacked a certain name recognition factor
JB has used a politer set of words than my ‘nonentities’.

Has anyone got a link to this petition? I'd love to see the list. I thought I'd found one yesterday but it just led to a note from Google, no more contributions accepted, or words to that effect.

Eta, this might be my favourite bit

this obsessive need to amplify the voices of trans people, a strange fixation considering one would get less amplification at a Metallica concert

Great article. I especially liked
"Honestly, my phone hasn’t been this hot since I was last on Tinder."

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2025/08/18/literary-prize-cancels-annual-award-following-backlash-over-inclusion-of-irish-author-john-boyne/

https://medium.com/@nnimhaoileoin/author-statement-on-the-polari-prize-longlist-42111cca1c53

Sorry, I sent the wrong link the first time. This should work.

Joe Mccarthy signed it! 😃 I'm assuming a different one, what with being dead and all, but his spirit lives on.

I hate lists that alphabetise by first name.

I loved John Boyne's droll sense of humour in the Telegraph article.
Boyne and JKR are well matched in that area

More user friendly link to archive of telegraph article https://archive.is/niINf

( the .ph version has all those hoops to go through. the .is doesn't)

Anyhow glad that JB was and is able to rise above the noisy school children.

Is anyone a subscriber to the Telegraph? If so are the comments on the article positive?

The funny thing about that letter is that the people signing it are, I think, quite blinkered to the possible costs of signing it. To them, their position is the default, the uncontroversial, the politically safe one. They are so snug in their bubble they have no idea how many people will be horrified by their dogmatism. Publishing is pretty toxic but there are bound to be some sensible people who are keeping their heads down. If you were an agent or were organising some literary event, would you want to have to deal with a signatory from that list?