2 months ago 17th Apr 06:52
Book Prize Panel Defends Allen....
The organisers of a British book competition have defended their decision to choose pop star Lily Allen as a judge - insisting she was only dropped from the panel because her "life got in the way".
The Smile singer signed up to the judging panel for the $60,000 Orange Prize for Fiction in December (07), but failed to show up for an important meeting last month (Mar08) because she was too "depressed" after suffering a miscarriage.
Allen was eventually dropped as a judge earlier this month (Apr08).
But panel chairman Kirsty Lang has hit out at the critics who disparaged Allen after her withdrawal from the panel - calling them "snobby and elitist" and insisting she has no regrets about the decision to bring the 22-year-old on board.
She says, "She reads, she writes her own songs, she's a wordsmith. Life got in the way.
"She lost a baby, her boyfriend left her and she was launching a new TV show.
She was under a hell of a lot of pressure. She found the pressure of judging a major book prize on top of everything else too much".
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