The Guardian are getting all excited about a tattooed ex-biker from Bradford being shortlisted for the Orange Prize For Fiction. Joolz Denby obviously isn’t the type of ‘chic’ they expect to know how to spell literature. We’re not sure if its the tattoos, the bike or being from Bradford that causes such surprise.

The shortlist consists of three UK authors and three US ones - a kind of Ryder Cup of the bookworld (that’s where Amercan sports fans shout abuse at British bods just as they’re about to knock knobbly balls into small holes right?) They’re all women, as usual, because Orange don’t like men. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, a comedy about a Ukrainian family in Peterborough (laughing already!) is thought to be the favourite, along with We Need to Talk about Kevin, Lionel Shriver’s hilarious tale of a high school serial killer as told by his mother.

The judges this year are famous radio presenter Jenni Murray, who has appeared on Blighty previously banging on about constipation, famous comedienne Jo Brand, who is known for being amusingly overweight, and famous newsreader Moira Stuart, who is the non-white representative. Oh, and Joanne Harris is on the panel because she writes books and they thought it might be helpful. The winner will be chosen on June 7th if the judges have had the time to read the books in between their usual media engagements.