Kate Long (born 1964) is an English author. She is best known for the number one bestselling novel ''

The Bad Mother's Handbook ''The Bad Mother's Handbook'' is a one-off television drama film based on the novel ''The Bad Mother's Handbook'' by Kate Long. It was broadcast on ITV on 19 February 2007, starring Catherine Tate, Anne Reid, Holly Grainger and Robert Patti ...

.'' She lives in Whitchurch in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

Biography

Kate Long was born in 1964 and raised in

Blackrod Blackrod is a town and civil parish situated within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. Nestled in the historic County of Lancashire, Blackrod is positioned 3.9 miles (6.3 km) northeast of Wigan and 6.6 mi ...

, a village between

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

and

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

, and was educated at

Bolton School Bolton School is a private day school in Bolton, Greater Manchester. It comprises a co-educational nursery (ages 0–4), co-educational infant school (ages 3–7), single sex junior schools (ages 7–11) and single sex senior schools including ...

. At 18 she left home to study English at

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

, where she graduated with a First Class Honours degree, then trained as a teacher in

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort situated on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe, southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of settl ...

for a year. For over a decade, she taught at Abbey Gate College, a secondary school just outside

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

. Her first novel, ''The Bad Mother's Handbook'' was published by Picador in 2004, was serialized on

BBC Radio Four BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at B ...

's ''

Book at Bedtime ''Book at Bedtime'' (''A Book at Bedtime'' until 9 July 1993) is a long-running radio programme that is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 each weekday evening between 22:45 and 23:00. The programme presents readings of fiction, including modern classic ...

'' and nominated for a British Book Award. The film rights were bought by Ruby Films and ITV produced the TV version in February 2007 which starred

Catherine Tate Catherine Tate (born Catherine Jane Ford, 5 December 1969) is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC Two, BBC sketch comedy series ''The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–2007), as well as bein ...

. Since then she has written eight other novels: ''Swallowing Grandma'', ''Queen Mum'', ''The Daughter Game'', ''Mothers and Daughters'' (first published as 'A Mother's Guide to Cheating'), ''Before She Was Mine'', ''Bad Mothers United'' which is the sequel to ''The Bad Mother's Handbook'', and ''Something Only We Know''. As well as novels, Long has written for '' BBC Wildlife Magazine,'' collaborated with Hugh Warwick, Melissa Harrison and Carolyn Jess-Cooke on their collections of non-fiction essays, and had short stories published in ''

Woman's Own ''Woman's Own'' is a British lifestyle magazine aimed at women. Publication ''Woman's Own'' was first published in... 1932 by Newnes. In its early years it placed women's rights and social problems firmly in the foreground. Its first "agony aunt ...

'', ''

Woman & Home ''Woman & Home'' is a monthly lifestyle magazine published by Future PLC. The London-based women's lifestyle brand produces fashion and beauty features for women in their 40s and older, along with articles on the home and garden, health, food, wi ...

'', the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'' magazine and the ''Sunday Night Book Club'' anthology. Her latest book, ''Boost Creative Writing Confidence at KS2'', is a guide on how to teach creative writing to children. She blogs weekly about how to engage children with exciting, accessible poetry and stories.

References

External links

Official website
*https://schoolwritingclub.blogspot.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Kate 1964 births English writers Living people Long, Kate People educated at Bolton School People from Blackrod English women novelists English women short story writers