A Bermudian author is home for the holidays and riding high on his success, with his book of quirky bygone recipes now holding third place on The New York Times bestseller list.

Dylan Hollis, a jazz musician who became a social-media star during the Covid-19 lockdown, enjoyed his first book signing on home soil last night.

The popularity of his book,Baking Yesteryear, had Mr Hollis on tour in the United States for much of the past year.

As fate would have it, the 28-year-old was back home after a signing in Laramie, Wyoming — the place where it all started in 2020.

“It’s a small western town where I went to the University of Wyoming.”

The former Warwick Academy student was studying music when the pandemic sent everyone into lockdown.

Searching for entertainment, Mr Hollis parlayed his love of old-time recipes into forgotten desserts — the best, and the worst, such as the long-lost chocolate potato cake.

His short videos became a social-media hit, and the publishing world came next.

As eager fans queued up in the Bermuda Bookstore for Mr Hollis’s dedication of their copies, he told The Royal Gazette: “This is actually my first signing back home. I feel very, very lucky to be here for it. I feel so welcome back home”

This time, Mr Hollis’s meeting and greeting was filled with old friends — such as Erin, a longtime family friend who told him: “I just can’t believe everything you have accomplished. I’ve been following your whole journey.”

Mr Hollis explained: “She was part of my inspiration to go out and get my music degree.

“Not that I am doing much music these days.”

Asked about what was next on the horizon, he said: “If one book does well, your publisher will inevitably want you for a second one. But, of course, one can’t talk too much about what’s planned.”

He added: “If you’re a one-trick pony, you would be foolish to change course, so I’ll maybe be exploring more old cookbooks.”

The packed bookstore included star-struck youngsters familiar with him from TikTok videos, as well as fans who knew Mr Hollis from his childhood.

The author’s touring has come with plenty of TV appearances, but Mr Hollis said his long break in Bermuda, which would likely include “the majority of January”, looked set to end with no television interviews scheduled after his return to the United States — at least yet.

“That’s what authors have to do,” Mr Hollis said.

“I’m just glad that from the internet I transferred to being an author. I got out of social media as quickly as possible. You know how short-lived a thing that is.”

He added: “Besides, I’m an introvert at heart.”