'Autofellatio' by James Maker has been named the winner of the Polari First Book Prize, announced on Monday 21st November at the Polari 4th Birthday celebration, held at the Southbank Centre.

Paul Burston, Chair of the judges, said: “The judges felt that Autofellatio stood out with its humour, honesty and heartfelt exploration of British queer life over the last 30 years. It deals with the hardships of growing up gay in a way that is witty, endlessly quotable and, above all, brave. The hard-won wisdom and tenacity of this story is also reflected in the way in which the book evolved. Self-published as an ebook, it has now been picked up by an independent publisher. The judges also agreed that the winning book best exemplified the spirit of the prize and the ethos of Polari.”

Winning author James Maker said: "I'm thrilled that Autofellatio is the winner of the Polari First Book Prize, especially given that the other books in the shortlist are so very, very strong. Autofellatio began life as a self-published ebook, and I believe that winning this award sends a positive message to other first-time authors: do-it-yourself, go out there and promote your work through Spoken Word. Anything might happen."

This is the inaugural year of the Polari Prize which is for a first book exploring the queer experience and was open to any work of poetry, prose, fiction or non-fiction published in the UK in English within the twelve months of the deadline for submissions (this year Feb 1, 2011). Self-published works in both print and digital formats were eligible for submission.

The Polari First Book Prize is named after ‘London’s peerless gay literary salon’ Polari, founded in 2007.

Media partner for the prize is Millivres Prowler Group, publishers of GT and Diva magazines.

The five shortlisted books for the 2011 Polari First Book Prize were:

• Love, Hope & High Heels by Clare Campbell (Tollington Press)
• Autofellatio by James Maker (self-published ebook, now in print from BigFib)
• Homo Jihad by Timothy Graves (Paradise Press)
• Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar by DJ Connell (Blue Door/Harper Collins)
• London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp (Myriad Editions)

Sex, Scene and Stuff