Bread and Roses Award | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Date | Annual |
Country | United Kingdom |
Presented by | Alliance of Radical Booksellers |
First awarded | 2012 |
Website | breadandrosesprize |
The Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing is a British literary award presented for the best radical book published each year, with radical book defined as one that is "informed by socialist, anarchist, environmental, feminist and anti-racist concerns"[1] – in other words, ideologically left books.[2] The award believes itself to be the UK's only left-wing only book prize.[2] Books must be written, or largely written by authors or editors normally living in the UK, or international books available for purchase in the UK.[1] Winning authors receive £1,000.[1] The Bread and Roses Award is sponsored by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers and has no corporate sponsorship.[2][3]
Bread and Roses is a phrase from the Bread and Roses strike of 1912 among textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. In a song – "Bread and Roses" – commemorating the event, the strikers supposedly struck "for bread, and for roses too."
The inaugural prize was announced 1 May 2012, on International Workers Day, at the Bread and Roses pub in Clapham, London.[2]