Judges praised Klein’s Doppelganger for its ‘courageous’ study of truth in politics and called Ganeshananthan’s Brotherless Night a ‘masterpiece’ of historical fiction

Doppelganger by Guardian US columnist Naomi Klein has become the inaugural winner of the Women’s prize for nonfiction, while Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan has been named winner of the fiction prize.

Both books look at how people get swept up in extremism: Doppelganger uses the fact that Klein is regularly confused with feminist turned conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf as a jumping off point for an exploration of truth in politics, discussing populist figures such as Steve Bannon and Donald Trump. Meanwhile Brotherless Night, mostly set in Jaffna during the Sri Lankan civil war, is about a girl who dreams of becoming a doctor before war breaks out in her country and those around her begin to engage with violent political ideologies.

Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan (£9.99) and Doppelganger by Naomi Klein (£25) are both published by Penguin. To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copies at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

Schemes established in London and Norfolk will give away books alongside food, with a programme of author events also planned

A new charity which gives away books at food banks has launched on Tuesday, with a view to providing “book banks” for food bank guests across the UK.

Bookbanks was conceived by Emily Rhodes, a writer and critic who has worked in publishing and bookselling. In 2022 she started volunteering at her local food bank in Newington Green in north-east London, and came up with the idea to set up a stall alongside it giving away books. Initially, Rhodes gave away her own books, but as the project grew she was able to get donations from organisations including bookshops, libraries, prizes and publishers, and sometimes from individuals, including food bank guests.

Despite its role in bringing the asset manager’s sponsorships to an end, the activist group has faced criticism that ‘not a dime has been divested from fossil fuels’. Four of its campaigners speak out

Until earlier this year, novelist and film-maker Omar Robert Hamilton didn’t know what Baillie Gifford was – it was just “two words that [he’d] seen on top of things for years and years”.

While aware that it sponsored some literary organisations, Hamilton didn’t know whether the investment management firm “was a drink or a bank or what” until he got involved with Fossil Free Books (FFB) in March. The campaign group has been putting pressure on Baillie Gifford to pull its investments in the fossil fuel industry since August 2023, when climate activist Greta Thunberg pulled out of her scheduled appearance at the Baillie Gifford-sponsored Edinburgh international book festival, accusing the asset manager of “greenwashing”. Since May this year, FFB has also asked that Baillie Gifford divest “from companies that profit from Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide”, as it believes that “solidarity with Palestine and climate justice are inextricably linked”.