Profiles

Edward Hogan is 28 years old. He was born in Nottinghamshire and was working in Nottingham's Council House when he was writing his first novel.

Seven years after starting the book, Blackmoor, it's been snapped up by publishers and he's receiving rave reviews for his work.

Kids play

Apart from football writing was one of Edward's early passions.

"I've been writing since I was a kid.

"Even when I started writing the novel I wasn't writing it with publication in mind.

"It was just something I was doing in my bedroom - some people make music and some people go out and do sport - I was just doing that."

About the book

The book centres around a small mining community and Edward says he chose this setting because he wanted to find out more about the place he grew up.

"It's a regional book, about the midlands and the north and what has happened to the mining communities since people have stopped mining.

"I was four when [the strikes] happened, in West Hallam... I couldn't really remember it but to me it seemed like such an integral part of the community."

Press cuttings

After leaving school Edward enrolled on the University of East Anglia's MA in Creative Writing course, winning the David Higham Award, a bursary of £5,000 given annually to a student enrolled on the course. 

Edward Hogan

After graduating he was signed up with publisher Simon & Schuster.

Since the launch of Blackmoor Edward's been named as 'a writer to watch' by Peter Carty in The Independent whilst authors Miriam Toews and Hilary Mantel are also fans.

He admits to drawing inspiration from the people he meets:

"You get the details from real life... you try and build them into a character that you're interested in and make something new out of it."

 But he says there are no characters from the City Council in his debut.

"Well, they might not recognise themselves if they are in there anyway."

Edward is now busy writing his second novel, which is also set in the region.

You can hear more celebrity interviews on BBC Radio Nottingham's Afternoon Show with John Holmes (weekdays, 14:00 - 16:30).