Armitage studied Modern Languages at Hull University gaining a BA.
She had numerous magazine articles and short stories published before she turned to longer fiction.
At the conference they discussed writing a television script together about disability, with Longden's wife Diana, at the heart of the story.
Diana Longden had an illness which baffled doctors, left her wheelchair-reliant and in almost constant pain.
Longden's book Lost For Words (1991), which continues the story of his life with Armitage and his eccentric mother, was also made into a TV film, Lost for Words (1999), in which Penny Downie plays Armitage and Pete Postlethwaite plays Longden.
[11][12] In November 2002 Armitage and her husband were awarded honorary Doctor of Literature degree by University of Huddersfield.
[1] International Emmy 1999, Nominated for a BAFTA, Winner of the Peabody Prize and Le Priz Crystale all for the TV film Lost For Words, co-written with husband Deric Longden.