Authors > Kate Long > Author Revealed

Kate Long
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Kate Long

Author Revealed:
Q. What is your motto or maxim?
A. Better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.
Learn more about Kate Long
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Kate Long: A Self Portrait
Kate Long Revealed
About Kate Long
  • What is your birthdate?:
    12/16
  • Previous occupations:
    Tea lady, English teacher.
  • Favorite job:
    Writer, of course! I did love teaching, though.
  • High school and/or college:
    Bolton School; Bristol University; Rolle Teacher Training College.
  • Name of your favorite composer or music artist?:
    Tori Amos
  • Favorite movie:
    'A Canterbury Tale', directed by Powell and Pressburger.
  • Favorite television show:
    Currently 'Mock the Week'.
Revealing Questions
Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
A. Small-time eco warrior, busy mum, avid reader.
Q. What is your motto or maxim?
A. Better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.
Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
A. Walking by myself in fields on a fine summer evening, my camera round my neck, OR pond-dipping in the garden with my boys, while my husband tinkers with his motorbike.
Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
A. Right here. I love the Shropshire countryside and I'd never want to live anywhere else.
Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
A. I'd like to be just OK at sport, as opposed to embarrassingly bad.
Q. What is your greatest achievement?
A. My lovely sons.
Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
A. My husband says it's my sunny nature, hem hem.
Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
A. Esther Summerson in Dickens' 'Bleak House'. It's not over-stating the case to say that meeting her changed my outloook on life.
Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
A. Barbara in Zoe Heller's 'Notes on a Scandal'. She's so gloriously self-deceiving.
Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
A. Selfishness.
Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
A. Surveying water courses for riparian wildlife.
Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
A. Assisting with a water vole captive breeding programme
Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
A. Kindness; optimism; the ability to empathise.
Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
A. 'Linden Lea' arranged by Vaughan Williams; 'Oliver's Army' by Elvis Costello; 'Six Underground' by the Sneaker Pimps; 'Bedshaped' by Keane; 'Living in the Past' by Jethro Tull.
On Books and Writing
Q. Who are your favorite authors?
A. I hesitate to begin listing because there are so many I don't know where to leave off. But here goes: Alan Garner, Liz Jensen, Sophie Hannah, Charlotte Mendelson, Kate Atkinson, Jeanette Winterson, Laurie Graham, Sarah Waters, Nick Hornby, Jan Mark, Louise Rennison, Ted Hughes, Allison McVety, Emily Dickinson, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen.
Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
A. Red Shift - Alan Garner

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

The Future Home-makers of America - Laurie Graham

Bleak House - Charles Dickens

Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson
Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
A. Middlemarch - George Eliot
Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
A. Read as much as you can, and write for the joy of writing,
Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
A. "You've described exactly how I feel."