Helen Dunmore
Helen Dunmore
Helen Dunmoreis a British poet, novelist and children's writer. Educated at the University of York, she now lives in Bristol. Dunmore is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Some of her children's books are now included in reading schemes for use in schools...
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth12 December 1952
writing historical pleasure
However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with a historical setting and a novel with a contemporary setting, as far as I'm concerned.
teacher parent stories
As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed by what we are told by our parents, our teachers, our intimates.
trying stories shapes
A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to pour your story into.
stories creatures
We are creatures of story.
adventure air world
In a world without air all you breathe is adventure!
sea water worry
i wish i was away in Ingo far across the briny sea sailing over deepest waters where neither care nore worry trouble me
tyrants opponents want
It is a violation which has obsessed the tyrants of the twentieth century. They do not want simply to kill their opponents, but to liquidate them, to deny that they have ever existed.
past trying genocide
Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.
country delight golden
Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel, which I found, to my great delight, to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of course I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country.
writing ears weight
Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the head of the reader. You learn the weight of words and how they sound to the ear.
strong children book
Writing children's books gives a writer a very strong sense of narrative drive.
doubt young realising
When you are young you don't always realise how full of doubts everybody is.
trying individual terrible
To try to expunge an individual's history is a terrible violation.
men poet uncertain
The poets whom I knew then were all men and all seemed dauntingly sure of themselves - although I am sure that really they were as uncertain as I was.