Paul Burston on Polari

It started with a moan. Myself and Rupert Smith were complaining about the lack of opportunities for us as gay authors, the lack of invitations to read at major book festivals, the lack of invitations to read anywhere. Out of that conversation came Polari. I launched my gay literary salon night last November, with the help of Foyles Bookshop and in the hope that there were others out there who shared my passion for gay books.

There were. In fact, Polari has grown at such a rate, it surprised even me. Myself and Rupert read together at the first event. Neil Bartlett read at the second. Since then we’ve had Stella Duffy, Christopher Fowler, Sebastian Horsley, Charlotte Mendelson and Will Self, to name but a few.

In February, Polari joined forces with The House of Homosexual Culture for a night debating the state of gay publishing in the basement at Freedom Bar. We had 150 people through the door that night. But were we happy? Were we buggery. It was all very well raising our profile on the gay scene, but what about the wider literary world? Were we destined to remain in the ghetto forever?

Little did we know, but someone, somewhere was listening. Barely a week later we were called into a meeting at the South Bank and asked to programme some events for the London Literature Festival. We left the meeting in a daze. I remember turning to Rupert and uttering those immortal words, ‘What just happened?’

What just happened, in fact, was that gay programmers were invited to take part in a major British book festival - a first as far as we can tell. We staged three events in all, involving a total of 20 authors and performers, including two male strippers. Our Dirty Books night was the smallest of our three events, but it was the most talked about. We were the people who 'put the cock in the Royal Festival Hall'. Our events were so successful, we’ve been asked to stay on at The South Bank, programming gay events all year round.

And as Polari approaches its first birthday, I can hardly believe the difference a year has made. I’ve read to packed audiences at the Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall and worn some fairly ridiculous outfits. More importantly, I’ve demonstrated that there is an audience for gay fiction out there, and that literary events needn’t be dry, dreary affairs. You can sell books and have fun in the process.

Polari celebrates its first birthday on Wednesday Nov 12 at Trash Palace, 11 Wardour St, London W1. 7-11pm. Free entry.

Watch a filmed report on Polari.

www.paulburston.com

Posted 04/11/2008 15:14:47 by Paul Burston with 0 comments.