AUTHOR PAUL HOWARD is bringing his ‘Ross O’Carroll-Kelly’ book series to an end after 27 books over a 24-year period.

However, Howard will continue his weekly Ross O’Carroll-Kelly column with the Irish Times.

The character, a wealthy south Dublin rugby fan, first appeared on the pages of The Sunday Tribune in 1998 and his last outing in book form will come with the release of ‘Don’t Look Back In Ongar’ on 22 August.

I was never one for long goodbyes. So here goes. The next book is called ‘Don’t Look Back In Ongar’ – and it will be THE LAST IN THE SERIES! After 24 years – and 27 books – I’ve decided it’s time for the final chapter. It's available to pre-order here. https://t.co/KtOu514AWO pic.twitter.com/kZ4m4CRwLv

— Ross O'Carroll-Kelly (@RossOCK) May 31, 2024

The first novel, The Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll Kelly – a reference to Lauryn Hill’s album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – was released in 2000 and is about Ross’s attempts to lead the fictional Castlerock College to victory in the Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup.

The novel was launched at Blackrock College RFC, despite members complaining that the satirical novel was an “anti-rugby” book.

More than 1.5 million copies of books from the popular series have been sold in Ireland since.

Speaking on The Ray D’Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1, Howard joked that “today is my Robbie Williams leaving Take That moment, or my (Jürgen) Klopp leaving Liverpool moment”.

He said he has been thinking about the decision for a “number of years” and that “it has been a case of ‘when’ for a long time”.

Howard noted that both he and his editor agreed that ‘Don’t Look Back In Ongar’ should be the last of the series after more than two decades and 24 novels.

The Ross O'Caroll-Kelly series is being retired in August

He remarked on how he started writing the series when he was in his mid to late 20s, and that he will be 54 on his next birthday.

“I’ve realised that there is an entire generation that has grown up with Ross and has grown to middle-age,” said Howard.

“When I started writing for them, with them in mind, they were in school, and now they’re middle-aged people with children of their own.”

Howard added that he is working on a lot of other things and that he “doesn’t need to be wedded to this forever”.

“It’s taken up so much of my time and I’ve written about this character for over 20 years,” said Howard, “and I feel that the time has come to close the door and to finish that chapter.”

However, he said he loved when people shouted things from the book series at him on the street and added: “There was never a point where I felt I want to escape this, I loved every minute of it.”

“Now is the time to finish ‘Ross’, I have lots of ideas for different things and I have other stories I want to tell,” said Howard, who added that he is also working on new TV projects.