First Madonna did it and now Kylie's doing it. Two of the world's best known pop divas have been branching out. Instead of performing concerts in packed stadiums around the world and recording multi-million selling albums, they have turned their attention to the more gentle world of children's publishing.
Madonna's book "The English Roses" came out in 2003 and now Kylie Minogue's novel "The Showgirl Princess", a story about one girl's journey to stardom, has just been published.

Both women are already famous for being multi-talented. Both are well-known world-wide for their singing, dancing and acting but now it's their writing skills that they are keen to share with the rest of us.

Kylie began acting on Australian TV when she was 11 years old but it was her role as the teenage "Charlene" in the soap opera "Neighbours" that really put her on the international map.

Her on-screen boyfriend (played by Jason Donovan) in "Neighbours" became her off-screen love and when the two of them recorded the duet "Especially for You" in 1989 it seemed that romance, pop music and success were all Kylie's for the taking.

16 years later her charmed life was shattered with the news that she had breast cancer. Her world tour was cancelled and she underwent surgery in May 2005.

It was while she was recovering from her breast cancer treatment that she wrote "The Showgirl Princess". She said it was "therapeutic to be working on something" while she was recuperating.

Madonna said one of the reasons for writing "The English Roses" was that she wanted to do something for her children. Kylie's reason is rather different. She admits the idea of the book came from her actor boyfriend Oliver Martinez but that she has always had an interest in writing. "Way back when I was in primary school" she said, "I used to do little drawings and stories. My dad always said that one day I'd write a children's book".

Kylie Minogue is due to start her next tour in Australia in November 2006.

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GLOSSARY 词汇表 

pop divas
超级流行女歌星
 branching out
另辟新境   
packed stadiums
座无虚席的演出会场   turned their attention to
把注意力转向 
stardom 明星地位     published 出版发行 
multi-talented 多才多艺的   keen to share with the rest of us
迫切与众分享  
soap opera 肥皂剧   put her on the international map
将她推上国际舞台 
on-screen 银幕上 
 off-screen 幕下 
duet 二重唱   for the taking
供…抓取，伸手可得 
her charmed life was shattered
她光彩迷人的生活被粉碎了 breast cancer
乳腺癌
 
cancelled 取消
therapeutic
治疗的             underwent surgery
经过手术
recuperating 康复