Hislop to head Whitbread judges

Ian Hislop: Hoping for a rumpus

Private Eye editor Ian Hislop is to chair the judging panel of the prestigious Whitbread Book Award for the second time.

Joining the Have I Got News for You quiz show panellist will be, among others, actress Joely Richardson, Cold Feet star Hermione Norris and Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes.

The judges must choose the Whitbread Book of the Year from the winners of five individual categories - children's, poetry, biography, novel and first novel.

Joely Richardson will join the judging panel

The overall winner will be announced at a ceremony on 28 January.

Hislop, who judged the competition in 1996, is hoping the competition will spark debate over who should be awarded the £25,000 prize money.

"I have always been a fan of the Whitbread Book Awards. The quality of the books is terrific and so is the quality of the rows," he said.

"When I was last judging we had a great one about Beryl Bainbridge. And the Seamus Heaney versus Harry Potter rumpus a few years later was a classic. I am sure the judges will not disappoint this year."

Others on the judging panel include writers Wendy Cope, Joanna Trollope, Adam Sisman, Michael Dobbs and Geraldine McCaughrean.

Husband and wife Michael Frayn and Claire Tomalin are among authors nominated for the awards.

They are not competing in the same category - Frayn is up for best novel for World War II book Spies, while Tomalin is hoping for the biography prize with Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self.

Other authors up for the £5,000 novel prize are Booker Prize nominee William Trevor for The Story of Lucy Gault, Justin Cartwright for White Lightning and Tim Lott for Rumours of a Hurricane.

2002 Whitbread shortlists:

Novel

White Lightning - Justin Cartwright
Spies - Michael Frayn
Rumours of a Hurricane - Tim Lott
The Story of Lucy Gault - William Trevor

First Novel

The End of My Tether - Neil Astley
Homage to a Firing Squad - Tariq Goddard
The Impressionist - Hari Kunzru
The Song of Names - Norman Lebrecht

Poetry

Something for the Ghosts - David
The Ice Age - Paul Farley
Voodoo Shop - Ruth Padel
The Beautiful Lie - Sheenagh Pugh

Biography

Anthony Blunt: His Lives - Miranda Carter
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA - Brenda Maddox
The Real Mrs Miniver - Ysenda Maxtone Graham
Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self - Claire Tomalin

Children's

Exodus - Julie Bertagna
Saffy's Angel - Hilary McKay
Sorceress - Celia Rees
Mortal Engines - Philip Reeve