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 alive dull
The language has got to be fully alive - I can't bear dull, flaccid writing myself and I don't see why any reader should put up with it.
use tough poet
Poets go through a very tough apprenticeship in the use of words.
book firsts collections
My first collection of poems was published by Bloodaxe Books, which was then a very new imprint.
book doors mourning
Mourning Ruby is not a flat landscape: it is more like a box with pictures painted on every face. And each face is also a door which opens, I hope, to take the reader deep into the book.
past recognise happenings
If we understand the past, we are more likely to recognise what is happening around us.
people
I would like people to come into my Dreamworld and then choose to stay.
book tears reader
I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves - and then, maybe, read them again and find new things there.
individual feels reader
I concentrate on the lives of individuals whom the reader comes to know and feel with intimately.
powerful stories longing
The human longing for story is so powerful, so primitive, that it seems like something not learned, but locked into our genes.
life garden light
If the garden of Eden really exists it does so moment by moment, fragmented and tough, cropping up like a fan of buddleia high up in the gutter of a deserted warehouse, or in a heap of frozen cabbages becoming luminous in the reflected light of roadside snow.
nice writing feelings
Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn't work, throw it away. It's a nice feeling, and you don't want to be cluttered with the corpses of poems and stories which have everything in them except the life they need.
writing want stills
Finish the day's writing when you still want to continue.
writing long-walks pieces
A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.
rewriting stills ifs
Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn’t work, throw it away.