Tom Hanks may be one of the most popular actors in Hollywood, but did you know he’s also an author?

The Big star is writing his first-ever book, which will be titled Uncommon Type: Some Stories. The publication will include 17 short works of fiction and is set to come out in October 2017.

Tom, 60, has been working on the piece since 2015. “I wrote during press tours [and] on vacation,” he previously revealed. “I wrote on planes, at home, and in the office.” We can hardly wait to read it!

tom hanks getty images

Tom in February 2017.

This new project is exactly what Tom needs after a trying time for his family. His wife, Rita Wilson, was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma — the second most common type of breast cancer — after having two surgical breast biopsies in April 2015. She then underwent a bilateral mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. The actress confirmed she is now cancer-free in December 2015.

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In September 2016, he praised his lady for beating the horrible diagnosis. “It isn’t brave to be the husband of somebody who’s battling cancer — the brave one is the one who’s actually doing it!” the Forrest Gump star confessed at the time. “All I can do is to bow down before the courage of my wife.”

Unfortunately, that’s not the only struggle the couple recently had to deal with. Their son Chet Hanks has battled substance abuse in the past and checked into rehab in 2014. He later relapsed in 2015, and rear-ended a car while driving his parents’ automobile, allegedly under the influence. Tom and Rita were hit with a lawsuit as a result of Chet’s actions.

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Tom is also battling type 2 diabetes — and he blames his diet! “I’m part of the lazy American generation that has blindly kept dancing through the party and now finds ourselves with a malady. I was heavy. You’ve seen me in movies, you know what I looked like. I was a total idiot,” he said of his past, unhealthy diet contributing to his 2013 diabetes diagnosis. “I thought I could avoid it by removing the buns from my cheeseburgers. Well, it takes a little bit more than that.”

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