Bernardine Evaristo and Reni Eddo-Lodge have become the first black British women to top the UK’s fiction and nonfiction paperback charts, in a week where black authors lined up to slam British publishing as a “hostile environment”, and as bookshop chain Waterstones is being urged by staff to donate to the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of soaring sales of black authors. Evaristo’s Booker-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other topped the paperback fiction chart this week, making her the first woman of colour to take that spot. And Eddo-Lodge topped the paperback nonfiction chart with her 2017 book Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, making her the first black British author to hold the spot. Barack and Michelle Obama have both topped the hardback nonfiction charts, as has British chef Lorraine Pascale. Eddo-Lodge said it was “a horrible indictment of the publishing industry” that it had taken so long for a black British author to be No 1. As Black Lives Matter protests continue around the world, several bestselling authors have spoken out against the predominantly white publishing world. On Wednesday morning, bestselling novelist Dorothy Koomson, who was supported by writers including Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Courttia Newland, slammed UK publishing as a “hostile environment for black authors” and criticised those in the industry for posting “gaslighting social media posts”. “I have watched people who have made it clear over the years that they wouldn’t spit on me and my kind if I was on fire now asking for submissions from black and minority ethnic voices. To what end? So you can demean, demoralise and discard them?” Koomson asked. “Do better, publishing people. Do better, be better, treat us better. Talk to us, listen to us, stop going out there with words of support and look inside with your actions to improve the environment for black authors … enough public posturing, all right?” A petition from Waterstones staff, meanwhile, has called on the UK’s largest bookseller to financially support the Black Lives Matter movement, particularly in the wake of the “massive revenues” that anti-racist books are generating for the retailer online. Waterstones’ chart is currently topped by Eddo-Lodge and Evaristo, with Layla F Saad’s Me and White Supremacy, Akala’s Natives and Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility filling out the Top 5. Originally sent among staff, the petition has now been opened to the public “without a satisfactory response” from the chain, according to staff. It has been signed by more than 5,000 people, and backed by writers including Philip Pullman. “We believe it is time for Waterstones to stand up beyond an Instagram post or a tweet and provide substantive support for the black community who are fundamental to our bookstores,” say the signatories. But while Waterstones called it an “excellent idea”, it said that because all of its shops have been closed since 23 March, and the great majority of its staff remain on furlough, “with the best will in the world, we are not in a position to make a charitable donation at present, however much we would like to do so”. On Wednesday, Waterstones managing director James Daunt said the company was still discussing “what may be possible” for a future donation project, along the lines of the Waterstones campaign that raised £1m for Syrian refugees. “These need to be done well and in a considered manner. Rushing would likely end in a misstep, and the point about our current situation is an unfortunate reality. There is talk of profits when the making of profit is a distant prospect right now,” he said. Evaristo described her position, as not only the first black woman, but the first woman of colour, to top the UK fiction paperback chart, as astonishing. The only other writer of colour to take the spot was Marlon James, after the Jamaican writer’s A Brief History of Seven Killings won the Booker prize in 2015. Eddo-Lodge has previously asked readers buying her book in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests to match the price they paid with a donation to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. “This book financially transformed my life and I really don’t like the idea of personally profiting every time a video of a black person’s death goes viral,” she said last week.