Cathy Kelly: 'Female authors don’t get asked the same questions as male authors do'

The Belfast author is marking 25 years in publishing – and has just written her 22nd book. It’s all just ‘gas’, the down to earth author tells Kate Demolder as she discusses age, self doubt and the thorny issue of ‘chick lit’

Cathy Kelly: 22 books and 25 years into her career, and still going strong. Pic: Moya Nolan

“I'm sorry I’m late,” a flustered, yet charming Cathy Kelly, the wildly successful author-cum-recent Dancing With The Stars alum, bleats over Zoom. “I didn’t realise it was a video call I was needed for, so I was just dry-shampooing my hair.” It’s a typical Wednesday in the Belfast-born, Enniskerry-based woman’s calendar — it’s her 22nd book launch, incredibly. A fact that washes over both of us repeatedly as we speak. And she’s still not yet out of ideas.

It’s a wild amount of books, she agrees. Almost farcical. She also had to be reminded that it’s her 25th year in publishing.