Lily Allen drops out of book panel

Lily Allen has dropped out of the judging panel for this year's Orange Prize for Fiction due to ill health, The Mirror reports.

Allen was made a judge for the award, which will see the winner collect a £30,000 cheque, last December. The singer remarked that she was "a little daunted by the task" but "extremely honoured" to be asked.

However, a spokesperson for the singer and chatshow host said: "Lily had read extensively for the first stage of the judging process [but she] recently found that she was unable to commit 100% to the role due to ill health.

"Rather than do a disservice to what she sees as an incredible array of female literary talent, it has been agreed that she will withdraw before the final judging takes place.

"Lily hopes that her withdrawal will not detract from the huge importance of the Orange Prize and sends her sincere apologies to her fellow judges and to the individual authors."

Kirsty Lang (Radio 4's Front Row) will chair this year's panel and revealed that Allen "put in a lot of work on the reading and brought a unique perspective to the judging process".

The shortlist for the Orange Prize for Fiction will be announced this week.