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
rewriting stills ifs
Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn’t work, throw it away.
rhythm search voice
You have to search for the voice of each character: the things that he or she could or could not have said, the distinctive rhythm of the voice.
chapters happening headed light poem shining stage
Many chapters are headed by poem quotations. These epigraphs are another way of shining light on what is happening at this stage of the novel.
books children enjoying looking pretend
Children will not pretend to be enjoying books, and they will not read books because they have been told that these books are good. They are looking for delight.
early huge influence start
I could start with Mandelstam, who was a huge influence on my early writing.
began came fiction quite short stories
Fiction came quite a while later. I began with short stories and fiction for children.
hear poet poetry russian understanding
I'm a poet and I've read a lot of Russian poetry and can hear It's sounds. Russian poetry is so important to an understanding of the culture.
discipline finding-yourself next
Once one habit peels away the others follow it. You have to hold on, or the next thing you'll find yourself parading down the street in your nightdress. Habit is everything.
blood little-sister littles
For you where never my blood sister so no more shall I call you little sister
language
I was always influenced by language.
writing years research
I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to go on for years, and never write the novel at all.
russia age literature
I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early age by the culture, the language, the literature and the history to the place.
powerful reading progress
I have learned so much from working with other poets, travelling and reading with them, spending days discussing poems in progress. There is the sense that we are all, as writers, part of something which is more powerful than any of us.
children black sitting
I can remember being in my pram: children stayed in their prams much longer then than they do now. A big bouncy pram with black covers and a hood with metal clips that could trap your fingers. I was looking up at my sister who was sitting on the pram seat, with her back to me.