Writer, author and Hardy character (7)
I believe the answer is:
poetess
'writer' is the definition.
(poetess is a kind of writer)
'author and hardy character' is the wordplay.
'author' becomes 'Poe' (Edgar Allan Poe).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'hardy character' becomes 'tess' (I've seen this in other clues).
'poe'+'tess'='POETESS'
(Other definitions for poetess that I've seen before include "Emily Dickinson perhaps" , "Lady of verse" , "Female writer of verse" , "Sappho, for one" , "See spot (anag)" .)