Richard Ayoade to Publish Children’s Books With Walker

Fans of British comedy will no doubt be familiar with Richard Ayoade, known for his razor wit, as well as his role as Maurice Moss on the hit TV show The IT Crowd. Ayoade has since gone on to write and direct his own film with Submarine, appear in the hit Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian, and has published several books. It looks like Ayoade is once again writing but, somewhat surprisingly, this time his target audience will be children.

As The Bookseller reports, the comedian has signed a deal with Walker Books for two children’s books. The first is called The Book That No One Wanted to Read, and is aimed at children between the ages of eight and 10, and is set to be published next year in 2022. The second book will follow and will be a picture book called The Fairy Tale Fan Club. Illustrators for the book are yet to be confirmed, but Publishing director Jane Winterbotham said of the deal:

“Richard’s first books for children are every bit as original and hilarious as everything else he touches. He subverts the whole notion of storytelling in ways that will have children – and adults – howling with delight. I’m delighted that Richard has at last brought his amazing talents to children’s books, and to the Walker list.”

Literary agent, Jo Unwin, said of Ayoade: “There are ‘celebrity’ children’s authors, and then there are authors whose wit, intelligence and sense of fun ooze from every pore of their being. Richard is very, very much in the oozy camp and children are going to love his books.”

Ayoade joked: “I have been asked to provide a quote, for which I will be forever grateful, because it gives me the contracted opportunity to say, without exaggeration, that this may be the greatest publishing event in the history of fiction.”