Showbiz comes to book ceremony

Updated 09.40 Wed Apr 09 2008
Keywords: entertainment, showbiz, literature, british book awards, ewan mcgregor, doris lessing, katie price, russell brand

Celebrities Russell Brand, Katie Price and Ewan McGregor will be battling it out at the Galaxy British Book Awards.

Comedian Brand is used to the raucous atmosphere at the Brits while Ewan McGregor has been part of the glitz and glamour at the Golden Globes.

"I am very impressed with the beneficial effect Richard and Judy have had on the publishing industry" - Doris Lessing

But their books could win prizes in the sedate atmosphere at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

Brand's life story My Booky Wook is nominated in the Tesco Biography of the Year category, along with Richard Hammond's On The Edge.

McGregor's book Long Way Down, which he co-wrote with Charley Boorman telling the tale of their motorbike journeys, is nominated in the Play.com Popular Non-Fiction Award category.

Katie Price is up for WH Smith Children's Book of the Year for My Pony Care Book.

British author Doris Lessing, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, is nominated at the Galaxy awards for the first time for her novel The Cleft.

The winners are chosen by public vote and the awards will be hosted by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, who promote books on the Book Club segment on their TV programme Richard & Judy.

Ms Lessing said: "Any kind of award or prize is good for books because it draws people's attention to them.

"I am very impressed with the beneficial effect Richard and Judy have had on the publishing industry, they've done very good work in boosting the sales of books."

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