Shortlists on shortlists (judge’s version): part 7 - Poor Artists

We asked judges for the 2025 Bread and Roses Award to reflect on a book from this year’s shortlist and to recommend a book which has been shortlisted for the award in the last five years - and we're thrilled to share their thoughts before we announce the winner of the award on 15th September (click the link to join us for the online event)!

Our seventh and penultimate blog post comes from Olivia Calderón, a poet and second-time judge for the Bread and Roses Award, who reflects on Poor Artists by Zarina Muhammad and Gabrielle de la Puente

Here is Olivia’s contribution...

Poor Artists is a book, that upon initial read, completely shocked me. Never have I seen the modern creative struggle laid out so clearly, validated so concretely and sincerely. With the rise of AI as a justification for slashing creative fields and the active erasure of humans from what is arguably the most human thing we can do – create – it is a work that has come at a critical point in time.

This book showcases the realities of creativity in our time, and endeavors to provide an inside look into what being an “artist” actually is, what it looks like, and most importantly, how it feels to be a creative. With capitalism so eager to diminish the public opinion on art and its role while also commodifying it, Poor Artists breaks down the impacts of these attitudes on artists – from financial difficulties to the pitting of art and survival against each other.

Similarly, one of the shortlisted books from last year, Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism, tackles how exactly neurodivergence is set up to fail within a capitalistic society, chronologically showcasing its presence in our histories. The reality is neurodivergence is the building blocks of our evolution. I like the pairing of both books because I find that they tackle the idea of living outside of our current norms; what the world could look like if we actively incorporate empathy and understanding.