Last night of hit Polari season

The season has been funded by Arts Council England.

Hosted as ever by founder and author Paul Burston, it will spotlight Diana Souhami, Gerry Potter, VG Lee, Charles Neal and Susan Jeanne Lelliott and this event will be sign language interpreted by Martin Fox-Roberts.

Paul said: “It’s been a real pleasure bringing Polari to Hastings. The level of support has been fantastic and many of the authors and poets involved have commented on what a warm audience we’ve developed here. We’re going out with a bang and a truly first rate lineup combining local talent with some of the county’s top LGBT writers and performers.”

Acclaimed author Diana Souhami is three times winner of the US Lambda Literary Award for best gay writing and winner of the Whitbread biography award. She was shortlisted for the James Tait Black prize for biography. Her books have included a Sunday Times bestseller, a New York Times `Notable Book of the Year’ and `A Good Read’ on BBC Radio 4.

Gerry Potter’s books include ‘The Chronicles of Folly Butler’, ‘The Men Pomes’, ‘Planet Middle Age’ and ‘Planet Young’. A favourite son of Manchester and home town Liverpool, Gerry is the subject of a film ‘My Name is Gerry Potter’ which opened at Homotopia in Liverpool earlier this month.

Hastings resident VG Lee is a comedian and the critically-acclaimed author of four novels and a collection of short stories.

In 2012, she was nominated for a Stonewall Award for writing and recently won the Ultimate Planet Award for Best Established Author 2014.

Charles Neal is a therapist and writer specialising in queer issues. He co-edited the bestselling ‘Pink Therapy’ trilogy. A gay father and grandad himself, his latest book is ‘The Marrying Kind?: Lives of Gay & Bi Men Who Married Women.’

Susan Jeanne Lelliott was raised in the London suburbs and currently lives in Hastings. She has been performing poetry since the days of punk rock and has had pieces published in ‘Spare Rib.’

Lately she has begun to create visual art pieces which incorporate poetry, and exhibited at the Towner, Rock House and Coastal Currents Festival. 7pm doors, 7.30pm start. £8 (£6 conc) from Eventbrite or on the door.