On November 15th 2022, Nen and the Lonely Fisherman was awarded the inaugural Children’s & YA Polari Prize. This is the only LGBTQi+ award in the UK and one of the biggest awards of it’s kind in the world. Created by Paul Burston and the Polari Literary Salon in 2011, this year a Children’s & YA prize was added for the first time.
Author and Chair of the Judges for the Polari Children’s &YA Prize, Jodie Lancet-Grant said: “We are delighted that Nen and the Lonely Fisherman has won the inaugural children’s and YA category of the Polari Prize. The judges agreed that this book does something important and radical by centring a queer love story in a picture book for young children. The story is innovative and moving, and the artwork truly stunning. Congratulations to Ian Eagleton and James Mayhew.”
The awards ceremony was held at the British Library. I really didn’t expect Nen and the Lonely Fisherman to win, so when the announcement was made I was virtually speechless. However, as author Ian Eagleton wasn’t able to be there, it fell to me, the illustrator, to accept the award – and make a speech! I was joined by Sam Langley-Swain, our brilliant publisher at Owlet Books.
Of course, I can now think of a million things I should have said, but I hope I conveyed a little bit of how meaningful this award is for me. Homosexuality was illegal when I was born, and that was very much the mindset when I was growing up in Suffolk. There was no “gay culture” in a little Suffolk village. There was no culture at all, in fact! I went to pretty rough state schools in and around Lowestoft in the 70s, and 80s, a time of terrible social deprivation, and poor human rights. I was the shy, quiet, sensitive kid, the shortest boy in the school, useless at sports, easy prey for bullies. And they made the most of it.
I sought solace in fairy tales, which I loved. But it was only years later that I realised how damaging they are with their relentless heteronormative Happy Endings.
So when Ian showed me his exquisite text for Nen and the Lonely Fisherman – an LGBTQi+ Fairy Tale – I knew I HAD to do it. Because representation is SO important, and I NEVER saw myself in a book as a child, not once. I had no information, no understanding of why I was different. It was a frightening and lonely time, just like Ernest in the story…
It took courage from all three of us to send the book out into the world, a book that not just describes, but actually shows in the illustrations scenes of intimacy between two men (oh how I worried over that!). We expected a backlash, but in fact, Nen and his fisherman Ernest, have been warmly embraced, and we are so grateful to EVERYONE who has supported and championed this book. We always hoped we could create a beautiful, romantic fairy tale that any child could enjoy. It’s not an “issues” book. It IS a fairy tale. I hope it shines a light for those who may grow up identifying as LGBTQi+, but also those who don’t, so they learn to empathise with those who are different.
Huge thanks to Ian for gifting me this story, to Sam for believing in us as an “Own Voices” trio, to the lovely chair, Julia, author Sam Sedgman who helped select the shortlist, and the trio of final judges, librarians Liz Chapman, Emerson Milford Dickson and Zoey Dixon, and Polari founder Paul Burston. The prize was sponsored by Little Box of Books. I am so grateful to you all! And my congratulations to ALL prize-winners and nominees – we are all winners, because we are survivors!
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