Dawn O’Porter has confirmed that she is set to become a mother for the second time – but not before she addressed a few other more pressing matters first.

After interviewing Sarah Solemani for her podcast, Get It On, the author and television presenter decided to open up about some of the projects she has planned for the year ahead.

“Hope your 2017 is going really well,” O’Porter told listeners, adding: “Mine certainly is.”

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O’Porter went on to reveal that she is working on another book, which she intends to begin within the next few days.

“I am starting a new novel this week,” she said.

It’s incredible news for fans of O’Porter’s bold and brilliant books, Goose and Paper Aeroplanes, which earned acclaim from critics, were nominated for a bevy of awards, and soared to the top of the book charts.

While little is known about O’Porter’s next novel, she has hinted that it will also focus on Flo and Renèe, the characters at the centre of her previous (and loosely-autobiographical) works.

Once she’d finished the important business of confirming her writing plans, O’Porter had an extra surprise for her fans.

Almost as an after-thought, she added: “I’m [also] about to turn 38, and I am pregnant.

“So I’ll be investing in a lot of elasticated trousers and dusting off all my old vintage tents, not unlike a lot of people in January.”

Read more: 70 baby names inspired by feminist icons

Fans immediately flooded Twitter with their congratulations, with one tweeting: “Just finished listening. One of your best episodes to date, Dawn, I’m hooked every week  - and congratulations.”

Another added: “Amazing news! Wishing you and your family all the very best.”

However it was celebrity pal Caroline Flack who got there first, tweeting: “OMG! Listen to the end… congratulations DAWN AND CRHIS! Another little bun in the oven.”

O’Porter and Chris O’Dowd already share 23-month-old son, Art

The couple tied the knot in August 2012, after meeting at a dinner party in LA three years earlier. And O’Porter (who, rather than taking her husband’s surname, meshed hers with his), has thanked the Bridesmaids actor for coming into her life during a very difficult time in her career.

“I thank God I met Chris when all that was going on, because if I hadn’t I might have really hit rock bottom,” she told the Mail Online.

“We got together just as Chris’s career was taking off, so we experienced it together. Because it was all happening for him, I still got to live this amazing life.”

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O’Porter added: “I was quite lucky that there was never this, ‘Oh, I’ve got to find the one.’ I met Chris at a point where he just kind of came into my life and that was that. We’re a great team”