via YouTube

Alan Partridge, a fictional character so brilliant that he seems utterly, beautifully, disgustingly real has, over the last twenty-five years, conquered radio and television with his dashing mix of ignorance, humorlessness, and egoism. In 2011, with the publication of I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan, the bard of Norwich showed that the literary world was yet another realm that could do nothing but be seduced by his . . . charm? Yes . . . charm. That’s it.

I, Partridge was a huge bestseller in the United Kingdom, though it was never published in the United States, despite the efforts of your humble blogger. In my past life as an editor at the Overlook Press, I wrote HarperCollins UK many heartfelt pleas begging for the chance to bring Partridge’s literary genius to American shores. For reasons that remain genuinely confounding to me, the publisher told me that it preferred to distribute the book in the US, though I don’t think it ever did. (Mr. Murdoch, if you’re reading this—and I’m sure you are—please reconsider.)

But this isn’t about me. This is about the greatest broadcaster of his generation, who has again decided to grace British bookstores (or “bookshops,” as they call them over there) with his good looks. On Wednesday, the writer Neil Gibbons made the following announcement:

NEWS: Alan Partridge’s new book (the follow up to I, Partridge) is in the works. Out next year.

— Neil Gibbons (@neilgibbons) April 15, 2015

Gibbons, along with his brother Rob, co-wrote I, Partridge, the full-length feature film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, and a number of recent Partridge specials, so the veracity of his claim can be trusted.

But if you don’t believe a piece of news is real until a publisher has confirmed it (this is a perfectly sound approach to truth), turn your attention to The Bookseller, which reported this:

Orion has bought a book by Alan Partridge, which will be written “with help” from Steve Coogan and Rob and Neil Gibbons.

A follow up to I, Partridge (HarperCollins), the title will be a collection of diary entries, letters, “think pieces” and programme and business ideas . . .

The book will be published in October 2016.

Think pieces! In a world overrun with think pieces, Alan Partridge is the only man we can trust to bring some nobility and valor to the genre. October 2016 can’t come soon enough.