CHRIS O'Dowd has agreed a six-figure deal to write two children's books based on his award-winning Sky One series Moone Boy.
The IT Crowd star will write the books with the show’s co-creator Nick Vincent Murphy, with the first book due to be released next autumn.
The show is loosely-based on O'Dowd's own childhood and the story follows 11-year-old Martin Moone in rural Ireland, his imaginary friend and his dysfunctional family.
The third season will air next year.
O’Dowd and Murphy said: "Throughout the first three series of Moone Boy, it's often occurred to us that there's so much more we could do with the world of the imaginary friends, but the hassle of having to film things with our big clumsy cameras made it tricky to delve too much into it in the show."
"However, this feels like the perfect world in which to explore novels for a younger audience, with plenty of opportunities for fun doodles and illustrations by Cartoon Saloon.
There will be lots of jokes and we hope that parents will want to steal the books from their children to read them too."
The book will be published by Macmillan and illustrations will be provided by Oscar-nominated Irish company Carton Saloon.
Last month Moone Boy was awarded an International Emmy for comedy, beating off competition from South Africa's Late Nite News with Loyiso, France's Workinggirls and How to Enjoy the End of the World from Brazil.
