Kay's memoirs up for book award

Peter Kay may not seem a heavyweight literary figure - but his memoirs have been nominated for a prestigious book prize.

His autobigraphy, The Sound Of Laughter, has today been shortlisted for book of the year in the Galaxy awards.

The eclectic shortlist ranges from Richard Dawkin’s anti-religious tract The God Delusion to Irene Nemirovsky’s book about Nazi-occupied France, Suite Française.

In their citation, judges said: ‘Kay\'s unerring gift for observing the absurdities and eccentricities of family life has earned himself a widespread, everyman appeal.

‘These vivid observations coupled with a kind of nostalgia that never fails to grab his audience\'s shared understanding, have earned him comparisons with Alan Bennett and Ronnie Barker.

‘In many ways, he\'s an old fashioned kind of comedian. He doesn\'t tell jokes about politics or sex, but rather rejoices in the far funnier areas of life: elderly relatives and answering machines, dads dancing badly at weddings, garlic bread and cheesecake, your mum\'s HRT...

‘His autobiography is full of this kind of humour and nostalgia, beginning with Kay\'s first ever driving lesson, taking him back through his Bolton childhood, the numerous jobs he held after school and leading up until the time he passed his driving test and found fame.’

Also shortlisted for book of the year are The Island by Victoria Hislop and The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters.

Kay’s book has also been nominated for biography of the year, alongside Gordon Ramsey’s autobiography Humble Pie, Claire Tomalin’s biography of Thomas Hardy, and John Grogan’s Marlye and Me – about his life with a Labrador retriever.

Ricky Gervais is also up for an award - with his Flanimals book nominated iIn the children’s category,

The awards will be presented on March 30, and broadcast on Channel 4.

Published: 7 Mar 2007