Shortlists on shortlists: part 3 - Marijam Did

We asked the writers shortlisted for the 2025 Bread and Roses Award to recommend a book which has been shortlisted for the award in the last five years - and we're thrilled to share their thoughts in the coming weeks, before we announce the winner of the award on 15th September (click the link to join us for the online event)!

Our third blog post comes from Marijam Did, author of the brilliant Everything to Play For : How Videogames Are Changing the World. Everything To Play For asks if videogames can achieve egalitarian goals instead of fuelling hyper-materialist, reactionary agendas, combining cultural theory and materialist critiques with accessible language and personal anecdotes.

Here is Marijam’s contribution...

Following Koshka Duff’s dignified and courageous response to her abuse at the hands of the Metropolitan Police has been remarkable. She channelled her frustration and anger into putting together “Abolishing the Police” - an extraordinary, movement-shaping work. The book is also released by Dog Section Press - a profoundly impressive young publishing house that not only produces incisive political work, but has a regular magazine distributed by vendors - many of them experiencing homelessness and living in poverty - who keep the revenue.

I also commend Florian Grosset’s “The Chagos Betrayal: How Britain Robbed an Island and Made Its People Disappear”, winner of the 2022 Bread & Roses Award. Beautiful in form and content, but most importantly - hope and action inspiring. Absolutely too late, and after a monstrous battle against all odds - this year UK signed an agreement to finally free these islands. When Grosset wrote the book it may have looked impossible, but it was another strike that broke the dam.

Radical publishing is all about building those tools for liberation, expanding political imagination, being ambitious about our goals, and hoping to find comrades. I’m beyond thankful to be a part of these Awards’ history and as always want to extend a huge thanks to the folk on the front lines - the wonderful book sellers - who keep the fire alive and strong. Thank you.

As Abolishing the Police is currently out of print, I wanted to link a book list we posted a while ago about the topic of prisons, police and justice.