London’s celebrated LGBTQ+ literary salon is heading to Blackpool as founder Paul Burston brings poet Joelle Taylor, novelist Stephen May and performer Hook to Aunty Social on 23 November
Polari lands at Aunty Social in Blackpool on Monday 23 November, with an evening of words that are written, spoken or sung.
Founded in 2007 by the author Paul Burston, Polari has appeared at the Southbank Centre, the British Library and Heaven nightclub, as well as at book festivals, bars, museums and theatres across the UK and beyond. Named after the gay slang of the same name, it is a celebration of LGBTQ+ voices. The salon also runs the Polari Prize, the UK’s book awards for LGBTQ+ writing.
Burston will host a line-up of three guests.
Joelle Taylor (pictured below) is the author of four poetry collections and one novel. Her collection C+NTO & Othered Poems won the 2021 TS Eliot prize and the 2022 Polari book prize for LGBT authors. She co-curates and hosts Out-Spoken Live at the Southbank Centre, and tours her work nationally and internationally. Her latest collection, Maryville, was published by Bloomsbury in 2025 and has been longlisted for the 2026 Forward prize for best collection.
Stephen May has written six novels, including Life! Death! Prizes!, which was shortlisted for the Costa novel award and the Guardian’s Not the Booker prize. He has also been shortlisted for the Wales book of the year and won the Media Wales reader’s prize, and has written plays, television and film. His latest novel is Green Ink.
Hook (they/them) is a northern-based, trans, neurodivergent, multidisciplinary artist who makes queer-led work where cabaret meets theatre. They aim to create “imaginative, transformative trans worlds” that invite artists and audiences to “play, question, and dream”. A specialist artist with York Theatre Royal and an alumnus of Soho Writing Labs, Hook is developing a new play, Panic Arcadia, a queer forest fantasy that turns to horror, inspired by the god Pan.
Burston himself is the author of six novels and four non-fiction books, and the editor of two short story collections. His memoir, We Can Be Heroes, is published by Little A. Russell T Davies called it “brutally honest”, while Bernardine Evaristo described it as “a compelling, hugely enjoyable memoir about a fearless life lived to the full”. In 2016 he featured in the British Council’s global list of 33 visionary people promoting freedom, equality and LGBT rights around the world. This year he was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
The Blackpool date is part of the Polari Prize 15th birthday national showcase, funded by Arts Council England.
Polari is at Aunty Social, 28 Topping Street. Monday 23 November, 7.30pm. Tickets £7.50 (£5 concessions). Book here.
