I’m a writer of short stories and novels. I’ve just completed my second novel, The Carriers, and I was thrilled when it was longlisted in the 2022 Grindstone Novel Competition (as A Thousand Grains). The novel is now out on submission, and I’m working on the next one.
My short fiction has been published by The Mechanics’ Institute Review, Cinnamon Press, Mslexia, and the Momaya Annual Review, among others. I was delighted when my story The Ishtar Pin made the shortlist of last year’s Manchester Fiction Prize: attending the awards ceremony, and reading an excerpt to a live audience, was a wonderful feeling after the enforced isolation of lockdown. I’m also excited to have a piece of non-fiction – my first – in the anthology 100 Voices (Unbound, 2022), edited by Miranda Roszkowski.
When I venture into the real world, I run creative writing workshops for GCSE and A level students. Their enthusiasm and imagination is endlessly inspiring. And it’s as thrilling as being published to read, on students’ feedback, that they found the sessions ‘very useful and enjoyable’, and ‘felt able to let go’.
One of my favourite quotes about writing is from The Faith of a Writer, by Joyce Carol Oates. ‘Only have faith,’ she says. ‘The first sentence can’t be written until the last sentence has been written. Only then do you know where you’ve been going, and where you’ve been.’
Sarah Hegarty 