At 18 she left home to study English at Bristol University, where she graduated with a First Class Honours degree, then trained as a teacher in Exmouth for a year.
For over a decade, she taught at Abbey Gate College, a secondary school just outside Chester.
Her first novel, The Bad Mother's Handbook was published by Picador[2] in 2004, was serialized on BBC Radio Four's Book at Bedtime and nominated for a British Book Award.
[3] 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 & Home, the Sunday Express magazine and the Sunday Night Book Club anthology.
She blogs weekly about how to engage children with exciting, accessible poetry and stories.