Bread & Roses Prize 2024 Longlist Announced!

The judges for the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing are delighted to announce the 2024 longlist!

The Bread and Roses Award, presented by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers with admin support from Lighthouse books, celebrates radical, accessible, politically-left non-fiction which offers new perspectives and insight. Over 60 books were sent by publishers for consideration, from publishing houses big and small across the industry including Verso, Saqi, Profile, Repeater, and Hajar Press.

The books chosen this year cover a wide array of topics which are critical to the present political discussion in the UK. Among them are social inequality, Britain’s place in global political conflicts, health politics, the mental health impact of climate change, marginalised histories of identity, feminism for all, and the experience of forced displacement and refuge.

The books are:

• A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petty Bourgeoisie by Dan Evans (Repeater Books)
• Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare by Annabel Sowemimo (Wellcome Collection/Profile)
• Doro: Refugee, hero, champion, survivor by Doro Goumaneh and Brendan Woodhouse (Unbound)
• Empire of Normality : Neurodiversity and Capitalism by Robert Chapman (Pluto)
• Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity by Hil Aked (Verso)
• I Feel No Peace: Rohingya Fleeing Over Seas & Rivers by Kaamil Ahmed (Hurst)
• Is It Ever Just Sex? By Darian Leader (PRH/Hamish Hamilton)
• Mad World : The Politics of Mental Health by Micha Frazer-Carroll (Pluto)
• Shattered Nation: Inequality and the Geography of A Failing State by Danny Dorling (Verso)
• Spinning Out: Climate Change, Mental Health and Fighting for a Better Future by Charlie Hertzog Young (Footnote)
• Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew by Avi Shlaim (Oneworld)
• Woman Life Freedom: Voices and Art from the Women’s Protests in Iran by Malu Halasa (Saqi)

The decision was made through hours of sincere and deeply engaged debate and the judges would like to offer heartfelt congratulations to all those who have made it this far. These were difficult decisions and there were many books we wish we could have included and that should still be celebrated.

The shortlist for the Bread and Roses Award will be announced on 17 June 2024.