Bestselling Irish children’s author Eoin Colfer has signed a major two-book deal for a spinoff from his popular Artemis Fowl series.

Colfer’s new novels, The Fowl Twins and an as yet untitled sequel, will focus on Artemis’s younger brothers, Myles and Beckett, who, after being left alone for just one night, end up having to save a troll from a nefarious nobleman and an interrogating nun – each of whom need the magical creature for their own gain. Readers will get to know the Fowl twins, revisit favourite characters, and enjoy all the action and wit that Artemis Fowl fans have come to expect.

“I am delighted to be back in the world of fairies, magic, and criminal masterminds, and I could not be more pleased that Disney and HarperCollins, two wonderful publishers with whom I share a long and fruitful history, are going to unleash the Fowl twins on the world,” said Colfer. “I cannot wait for a whole new generation of readers to immerse themselves in the magical adventures of Myles and Beckett. The future is bright. The future is Fowl.”

The film version of Artemis Fowl, directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Judi Dench and with a screenplay co-written by Conor McPherson, is die for release in August next year.

Stephanie Lurie, editor-at-large at Disney-Hyperion, said, “The Fowl Twins books will transport readers right back to the world of Artemis Fowl with their trademark humour, high-tech gadgetry, and unforgettable human and fairy characters. The contrast between Myles and Beckett is hilarious in itself!”

The first book is set to publish in February 2020.

Colfer is The New York Times best-selling author of eight books in the Artemis Fowl series, with sales in excess of 25 million copies, as well as Iron Man: The Gauntlet, the WARP trilogy, Airman, Half Moon Investigations, The Supernaturalist, Eoin Colfer’s Legend of . . . books, The Wish List, Benny and Omar, and Benny and Babe. From Wexford, he lives in Dublin with his wife and two sons.