By the last two stories, set after and then back during the current collapse, I really could have gone for something jolly. She broke out at the age of 17, winning the 1999 BBC New Comedy Award with a surreal tall tale about a bloodbath over chicken giblets in Bromley’s Waitrose. A Long Time Coming: Josie Long on her debut book Award-winning comedian and mum of two Josie Long is now an author. So I think it did reflect some things, like in the pandemic I was living in a flat that was really poor quality accommodation and it did drive me bonkers.

I’m still out on tour with my show Re-Enchantment until the end of September too, if you fancy seeing my stand up! Despite Long being a well-known comedian this collection of short stories are anything but 'funny', in fact they are all somewhat disturbing in nature. So during the pandemic when I really couldn’t gig, I realised that I was allowed to cycle to the empty offices of Arts Emergency, and that I could use that as a workspace. As is always the case with a collection of stories, I connected more with some than others but I truly enjoyed reading them all - which is quite rare for me.I am hardly a puritan when it comes to the use of blue language, especially the f-bomb, but Josie overdoes it here. Josie Long’s first collection reveals a natural gift with a frank and poignant tale; teenage experience, community WhatsApp groups and broken family units are picked apart with a wry cynicism at the weirdness and cruelty of life. I’m beyond excited to be bringing out this book, it has been a dream of mine since I wrote stories as a child," she said. What connects Dawn French, Joanna Lumley, AL Kennedy, Frankie Boyle, James Acaster and Monica Heisey?

A stand-up performer since the age of 14, Long has long been known for her golden retriever persona. I like it so much better than when she found improv, and talked to everyone about how life was also improv, and kept discussing the details and rules of specific improv games to me until I felt like a coward for not shouting that I do not and will not ever give a f*** about improv”. There’s also recurring mentions of drug use in a number of the stories which I personally don’t like reading about. Long showcases these heightened feelings almost to an extreme point, and while they can be exciting, deranged and cringey to read about, you do have to ask yourself - What would happen if we did let the intrusive thoughts win?

For me it has to be from my experience or will relate to it in a whimsical way, whereas with these it can just be like two girls find a thing. She won the Best Newcomer award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has been nominated three times for Best Show.

From a comic mastermind comes this brilliant collection of comical, refreshing and often brilliantly relatable stories. If you choose the Book + In-Person Audience option, this will include a signed copy of the featured book which you can collect from the venue on the night of the event. For stand up I’m presenting a version of myself and feel like I have to stand by what I say, even though in ten or 15 years you look back and say ‘that idiot, they didn’t know anything’.Peppered with the acclaimed comedian's trademark warmth and wit, the stories collected in Because I don't know what you mean and what you don't feature quirky, richly drawn characters and delightfully unpredictable plotlines.