The Bookseller.com

17th May 2008

Anna Richardson is The Bookseller's media editor. Anna's media blog will provide a weekly insight into the big books featuring in the media.

Why oh why is Lily Allen an Orange judge?

12.12.07

Lily Allen will be judging the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. Shock, horror. To describe her appointment as a "surprise" puts it mildly.

Oh, how I would love to be a fly on the wall of that judging panel. Somehow, I am struggling to picture the reactions of chair of judges Kirsty Lang and her fellow panellists--Guardian Review editor Lisa Allardice and novelists Philippa Gregory and Bel Mooney--when Allen rocks up, all ball gown and bling.

If her latest blog entry--in which she critiques fellow musician and "The X Factor" winner Leona Lewis--is anything to go by, her opening salvo might sound something like this: "Chimamanda is well nang. Nuff said. I have just read her latest book, I love her, no one can touch that girl. Big up Chim."

“Nuff said”, indeed. So how did she make it onto the panel? I can only imagine that the songstress daughter of actor Keith Allen was brought on board to pep up the Prize, to attract a new audience, make it more hip and trendy, more popular. The official line is that she brings the prize to a wider audience, that her inclusion will be good for debate, and for the prize in general. And on top of that she's a "passionate reader".

Well, why not? There's nothing wrong with trying to widen the appeal of the Orange prize--any prize for that matter. There are hundreds of them out there, so it's not easy for one to rise above the others, to ensure it is more popular and prestigious than the others, and sells more books than the others.

Appointing a tween media favourite is certainly one way to hog the headlines.

The Orange prize has been adventurous before. Sophie Dahl, Jo Brand, Suzanne Vega have all sat on the judges panel. But at least Dahl is made of literary blue blood and actually does some writing herself; Brand is eloquent and funny and also has a number of books to her name; and Vega has a Collected Writings book out with HC, for starters.

What will Allen—the youngest ever judge--have to offer?

She has legions of fans--her album "Alright, Still" has just been nominated for a Grammy Award and she has more than 460,000 friends on MySpace. A handy plug of the Orange shortlist could well pull in the masses, convert social networking junkies to avid readers.

Allen is also opinionated, as proven by her long-running and outspoken feuds with the likes of Cheryl Cole (yup, another popstress) and Peaches Geldof, so could possibly become the source of refreshing candour, usually absent from judging panel comments.

Whether coming up with kooky lyrics is any qualification for passing judgment on the finest that women’s fiction has to offer is questionable. Consider this from Allen's pen: “Everything seems to look as it should; But I wonder what goes on behind doors; A fella looking dapper, but he's sittin with a slapper; Then I see it's a pimp and his crack whore”.

But at least the idea of Lily adding her brash, brat charm to the Orange proceedings brings a smile to my face. It certainly beats grumpy-pants blur bassist Alex James-- who spends most of his time making cheese--opining on the Costa.

The year after, let's have Jordan judging the Booker and Paris Hilton the Pulitzer.

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