A boy and his tiger go head to head with the hard man of football for book prize

This year's British Book Awards are to pit an autobiography of one of the hardest men in football against an eccentric fable by a vegetarian, yoga-practising author.

Two of the men competing for one of the biggest prizes in literature – the footballer Roy Keane and the Booker prizewinner Yann Martel – represent opposite ends of the literary spectrum.

Keane's frank account of a footballer's life – complete with expletives – is up against Martel's entrancing tale of a shipwrecked boy trapped in a boat with a tiger.

This year, for the first time, the public will decide who wins the Book of the Year. While the awards, nicknamed the Nibbies, have always reflected popular choice, they have until now been judged solely by a panel of publishers. From today, their customers will decide which of the nominees wins the ultimate accolade at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 24 February.

Much interest will centre on whether the Manchester United midfielder's autobiography, ghost written by Eamon Dunphy, triumphs over Martel's Life of Pi.

The other books on the list are equally diverse – Ian McEwan's Atonement, the weighty Berlin by the historian Antony Beevor, The Shelters of Stone by the popular novelist Jean M Auel and the insightful Stupid White Men by the comedian and satirical documentary-maker Michael Moore.

Keane used his book to admit deliberately trying to injure the Manchester City midfielder Alf Inge Haaland in a match. The confession brought the former Republic of Ireland captain a five-match ban and a £150,000 fine from the FA.

Keane is also nominated in the biography category alongside Ulrika Jonsson, John McEnroe and the late Roy Jenkins for his profile of Winston Churchill.

Kylie Minogue and Alan Titchmarsh will go head-to-head in the illustrated book section, while the author of the year shortlist pits David Attenborough against Sarah Waters, who wrote Tipping The Velvet and the late Douglas Adams, creator of The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

The public can vote by phoning 09012 702424.