In 1977, he was the recipient of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, though this event remained undiscovered in America for several years until the "Pittsburgh Press" reported the revelation to its readers in 1981. In 1978, he participated in the Santa Cruz Writers Conference. In the early 1980s, Hogan was represented by Deborah Rogers' literary agency, which also had Peter Carey, Bruce Chatwin, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie on its books. In 1980, he won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for his "Diamonds at the Bottom of the Sea" collection of short stories. In 1981, he appeared in Granta.