Online event: Polari: South Asian Special

Thursday 27 July, 7.30pm-8.30pm

Venue: Online

Ticket price: free (booking required)

Age guidance: 16+

Featuring talented LGBTQ+ writers of South Asian heritage, this online event includes readings and discussion with poet and author Nikita Gill and poet Mukahang Limbu, hosted by Paul Burston. Paul’s award-winning literary salon Polari has been championing the best in LGBTQ+ writing and poetry since 2007.

NOTE: Booking required: a link to access this webinar will be sent to you the day before the event. 

Mukahang Limbu is a Nepalese writer based in Oxford. A three-time Foyle Young Poet, and winner of the Outspoken prize, he has been longlisted in the National Poetry competition, as well as the Forward Prizes. His poems have been published in England: Poems from a School (Picador, 2018), Poetry London and The Sunday Times. In June 2023, his debut pamphlet Mother of Flip-Flops (Out-Spoken Press, 2022) was published, which was chosen as the Poetry Book Society’s Pamphlet Choice, and he is a recipient of an Eric Gregory Award.

Nikita Gill is a writer, artist and graphic designer. A firm favourite at Polari, her books include Your Soul is a River, Wild Embers and Fierce Fairytales. She is a National Poetry Day ambassador and has published multiple anthologies of poetry, often involving the retelling of stories from folklore and mythology. Her latest book is These Are The Words – fearless verse to find your voice.

Paul Burston is curator and host of award-winning LGBTQ+ literary salon Polari and founder of the Polari Prize book awards for LGBTQ+ writers, based at the British Library. In 2016, he featured in the British Council’s Global List of ’33 visionary people promoting freedom, equality and LGBT rights around the world’. A Rainbow List National Treasure, he is one of the subjects of Alexis Gregory’s critically acclaimed verbatim play Riot Act, which celebrates generations of gay activism from the Stonewall Riots to the present day. Paul is the author of six novels and five non-fiction books, and the editor of two short-story collections. His memoir We Can Be Heroes: A Survivor’s Story was published in June 2023 and is a tale of living through two pandemics, surviving two near death experiences and battling his own demons. “This memoir is brutally honest, powering through the AIDS crisis, gay shame, addiction, all the way through to hope and redemption. If you’re in trouble, read this: Paul shows that you can survive. Wonderful.” Russell T Davies