Dermot O'Leary has said he was reared on Irish fairytale stories, admitting he plans on setting his next kids book in Ireland.
The TV presenter turned children’s book author is back with his fifth book in his children’s series, Toto The Ninja Cat And The Legend Of The Wildcat, based on the antics of Dermot’s real life cats.
This offering sees the return of Toto and her brother Silver, who live in a townhouse in London.
Dermot, 48, said: “I’d love to bring Toto to Ireland.
“One of the reasons why I put Toto in the Highlands was so I could go on a lovely research trip, but then Covid hit and I couldn’t go anywhere, so I had to base it all on my memories."
Dermot’s parents relocated from London back to their native Wexford.
He has always been a regular visitor there, until the pandemic hit.
Since the birth of his baby Kasper, Dermot hasn’t visited Ireland, but thankfully his parents jetted back to London.
He said: “Mum and dad came over for about a month, so that was great, they were able to see Kasper and my sister as well.
“We’re going to try and get there before the end of the year, all going well.
“But Zoom has been an amazing thing; Kasper even recognised them when he met them from seeing them on there so much - that was a godsend."
Dermot credits his Irish parents for his love of books and curiosity and his gra for Irish fairytales and folklore.
He said: “I don’t want to sound too cliched, but Irish families have that thing where you take your culture with you when you emigrate.
“So those fairy stories that people may not even read back in Ireland became a huge part of my dad’s bedtime ritual."
Opening up on his love of writing kids books, he admits it’s a different ball game to TV presenting.
He said: “It’s a different discipline. You want to plan but not over plan, because you don’t want to be in the situation where you’re beholden to the narrative.
“I find if I plan out a rough idea of where I want to be, that works best for me and once I start writing I’m quite confident where I want to go with it.
“I really enjoy it because it’s a different part to my job. A lot of my job is working from home and solitary, all the preparation that you do, all the research and writing.
“And I’m good with that and enjoy that time on my own, because the other part of it is so sociable.”
