Joint winners have been named for the 2025 Bread and Roses Award, organized by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers and hosted by Lighthouse: Edinburgh's Radical Bookshop. This year's prize, which celebrates "radical, accessible, and politically-left nonfiction which offers new perspectives and insights," went to Pleasure Gardens: Blackouts and the Logic of Crisis in Kashmir by Skye Arundhati Thomas & Izabella Scott and Intervals by Marianne Brooker.
The judges said: "Intervals, by Fitzcarraldo's own definition, blends 'memoir, polemic and feminist philosophy.' With its poignant writing on care, illness, and what makes a good death, topics that concern all of us, Intervals speaks to urgent conversations happening currently in the U.K., and is grounded in strong socialist and activist traditions. Intervals highlights the relationship between class and access to healthcare. It is simultaneously a moving tribute to Brooker's mother as well as a rallying cry. In the context of the changing law around Assisted Dying we urgently need to hear more from those affected by it, and Intervals is an excellent example of this.
"Pleasure Gardens is not only a necessary read, but Izabella Scott and Skye Arundhati Thomas also play with form in a way that is innovative and makes it accessible to more readers, using a diary format to build tension," judges said. "The book shines a spotlight on the hidden side of the politics of Kashmir, disrupting a highly curated narrative by the national government, and the judges hope this publication will open the door to Kashmiri voices being published. This publication is a symbol for transnational solidarity, at a time where many Kashmiri authors have been banned by the Indian government. While the judges were surprised at the lack of submissions that discussed today's global crises, we appreciated that Pleasure Gardens highlights the links between the Indian and Israeli governments, and represents the evolving conversation around this topic."