My Career: ‘It can be a little anxiety-inducing when work is about to be published’

Wed, 12 Nov, 2025 - 07:17

Name: Louise Hegarty

Age: 35

Lives: Cork City

Job title: Writer

Salary bracket: I am self-employed so it varies year to year.

Education background: Leaving Certificate.

Hobbies: Music, readings, sports.

Describe your job in five words: Creative, exciting, enjoyable, frustrating, maddening.

Describe yourself in five words: Creative, ambitious, curious, driven, reliable.

Personality needed for this kind of work?

You need to be resilient.

How long are you doing this job?

About two years full-time.

How did you get this job?

I was always interested in writing and in books. I started writing seriously in my late-teens and began submitting short stories to various literary magazines and eventually getting one or two pieces accepted for publication. In 2022, I had an idea for a novel which became Fair Play. I wrote a draft of it over the course of three months. Towards the end of that year, I was approached by an agent who was interested in providing me with representation. Around Easter of 2023, my novel went out on submission and I got a two-book deal with Picador.

Do you need particular qualifications or experience? Nope!

How many hours do you work a week?

40 hours.

Is your industry male or female dominated?

Female dominated.

Does this affect you in any particular way? The publishing industry has become steadily more and more female dominated in recent years. It’s difficult to say what the effect has been on me personally.

Is your job stressful? How? Rate it on a scale of 1-10:

4 - I don’t find it personally very stressful but it can be a little bit anxiety-inducing when work is out on submission or about to be published.

Do you work with others or on your own? On my own.

When do you plan to retire or give up working?

Writing doesn’t feel like something you really ever retire from but I’m sure how I will feel in a couple of decades.

Best bits: Being able to do the thing I want to do.

Worst bits: The precariousness.

Advice to those who want your job?

Read lots. Write lots. Don’t worry if it’s crap at first - it always is.

Fair Play by Louise Hegarty is shortlisted for ‘The Book Centre Crime Fiction Book of the Year Award in association with the Irish Independent’ in this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards.

An Post Irish Book Awards

Celebrating its 20th year, the An Post Irish Book Awards continue to champion and promote Irish writing to the widest range of readers possible. Each year, the Awards bring together a vast community passionate about books – readers, authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians – to recognise the very best of new and established Irish writing talent, and 2025 will be no different.

Authors on the shortlist include Catherine Ryan Howard, John Banville, Brenda Fricker, Adam Maguire, Una Leonard, Leo Varadkar, Roisín O’Donnell, Andrew Porter, Elaine Feeney, Steve Cavanagh, Sam Blake, Alan Titley, Sophie White, Donal Skehan, Leona Forde, Joseph O’Connor, Patricia Forde, Gavan Reilly, Cecelia Ahern and many, many more…

The public are now being asked to have their say and cast their votes for the best books of the year on the An Post Irish Book Awards website anpostirishbookawards.ie/vote.

All voters will be entered into a prize draw to win one of five €100 National Book Tokens vouchers. Voters may cast their votes until voting closes at 6:00pm on Sunday. November 16.

Aone-hour television special, hosted by Oliver Callan, will be broadcast on RTÉ One on December 11 giving viewers an exclusive insight into the six books and the authors competing for the accolade of ‘An Post Irish Book Awards Book of the Year 2025’, culminating in the reveal of this year’s overall winner..

Larry Mac Hale, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards, said that the shortlist for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards once again highlights the extraordinary breadth and depth of talent among Irish writers.

“It’s inspiring to see such creativity and passion reflected across every category, with deserving recognition for authors, publishers, illustrators, and booksellers alike.”