Paul O'Grady signs 'major' children's book deal with HarperCollins

TV presenter and author Paul O'Grady has signed a “major” multi-book deal with HarperCollins for his debut children’s novel and first in a planned series, Eddie Albert and the Amazing Animal Gang.

The three-book deal for world rights was negotiated by Ann-Janine Murtagh, executive publisher at HarperCollins Children’s Books and fiction publisher Nick Lake with from Waheed Alli at BM Creative Management.

The first novel, Eddie Albert and the Amazing Animal Gang: The Amsterdam Adventure, will publish on 16th September 2021 in hardback, with simultaneous e-book and audio voiced by O'Grady himself. The book, which O'Grady started writing in lockdown, is billed as “a cinematic adventure packed full of friendship, animals, action… and always, of course, a wicked sense of humour.”

Its blurb explains: “Unbeknownst to anyone, somewhat-unhappy and never-quite-fitting in 10-year-old Eddie Albert can speak to animals, including his pet dog Butch, his hamster and his two goldfish (who claim they were once pirates). When Eddie is sent to stay with his eccentric aunt in Amsterdam, he discovers that she too has this gift. So begins a breathless cosmopolitan comic crime adventure, as Eddie, Aunt Budge, his new friend Flo and a whole gang of amazing animals take on the most-dastardly villain since Cruella de Vil, in a desperate race against time to save one of their own…”

O’Grady first came to fame as Lily Savage and was nominated for a Perrier Award at the 1991 Edinburgh Festival before becoming a regular on many TV shows. O'Grady went on to further success presenting his chat shows on Channel 4 and ITV, "For the Love of Dogs" and "Animal Orphans" on ITV, and his weekly show on BBC Radio 2. His four volumes of adult autobiography were Sunday Times bestsellers and the last two have both sold more than 100,000 copies through Nielsen BookScan in paperback, the publisher said. In all, he has sold 1.8 million books for £16.5m in the UK through Nielsen with his memoir At My Mother's Knee (Bantam) on 723,545 copies sold in hardback.

He said: “I’m delighted to be working with HarperCollins Children’s Books and I’m excited to be launching Eddie Albert and his amazing animal gang this autumn. I’ve never written a children’s book before and I originally wrote this for my own amusement and hadn’t really thought about publication—it was just something to occupy the time during lockdown.

“However, as the story progressed, I found myself becoming quite passionate about these characters, both animal and human, and found that in the storytelling I hoped that I could get a subtle message across that—just like us—all animals have feelings and deserve love and respect, but unfortunately there are some humans who don’t see it that way. Eddie Albert is a smashing little lad, who, despite all the rotten hands that life has dealt him, comes up trumps in the end. I’ve become fiercely protective towards this brave little fella and I hope that readers will enjoy reading about his exciting, not to mention dangerous, holiday in Amsterdam.”

Murtagh added: “I am absolutely delighted that we are publishing Paul’s wonderful children’s books. He is a born storyteller, and from the moment we started reading Eddie Albert, it made our hearts sing with its spectacular and effortless blend of comedy, action and emotion. The delightful characters and story will be cherished and loved by today’s readers—and will continue to be treasured in the future, because we are certain this will be a classic for generations to come.”