Annabel Sowemimo wins the Bread and Roses Award for her book on medical racism in the UK

Dr Annabel Sowemimo has won the £500 Bread and Roses Award, organised by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers and hosted by Edinburgh’s Lighthouse Books, for Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare (Wellcome Collection).

The judges were unanimous in their decision to select Sowemimo’s book as the winner of the award, which celebrates “radical, accessible, and politically-left non-fiction”. They described it as “unique in its radical nature and widely encompassing in its coverage of the issues in the [UK’s] healthcare system”.

The judges also highlighted two of the shortlisted titles, Kaamil Ahmed’s I Feel No Peace: Rohingya Fleeing Over Seas & Rivers (Hurst) and Hil Aked’s Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity (Verso). “At this time of genuine terror, loss of life and political strife across the world and in the UK, the judges feel that these books are indispensable in understanding how we got to this point and where we can go now,” they said.

Established in 2012 by North London’s radical bookshop, Housmans, the prize has since been run in collaboration with Nottingham’s Five Leaves Bookshop and Lighthouse. Previous winners of the award include Aviah Sarah Day and Shanice Octavia McBean.