Helen Dunmore

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Helen Dunmore

FRSL
Dunmore in 2008
Dunmore in 2008
Born(1952-12-12)12 December 1952
Beverley, Yorkshire, England
Died5 June 2017(2017-06-05) (aged 64)
Bristol, England
OccupationPoet, novelist, children's writer
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of York
Notable awards
SpouseFrancis Charnley (m. 1980)
ChildrenPatrick
Tess
Ollie (stepson)
Website
www.helendunmore.com

Helen Dunmore FRSL (12 December 1952 – 5 June 2017[1]) was a British poet, novelist, and short story and children's writer.[2]

Her best known works include the novels Zennor in Darkness, A Spell of Winter and The Siege, and her last book of poetry Inside the Wave. She won the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction, the National Poetry Competition, and posthumously the Costa Book Award.[3]

Biography[edit]

Dunmore was born in Beverley, Yorkshire, in 1952, the second of four children of Betty (née Smith) and Maurice Dunmore. She attended Sutton High School, London[4] and Nottingham Girls' High School, then direct grant grammar schools.

She studied English at the University of York, and lived in Finland for two years (1973–75) and worked as a teacher. She lived after that in Bristol.[5][1] Dunmore was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL). Some of Dunmore's children's books are included in reading schemes for use in schools.

In March 2017, she published her last novel, Birdcage Walk, as well as an article about mortality for The Guardian written after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.[6] She died on 5 June 2017.[1][7][8][9] Her final poetry collection Inside the Wave, published in April 2017 shortly before her death, posthumously won the Poetry and overall Book of the Year awards in the 2017 Costa Book Awards.[10][11]

Personal life[edit]

Dunmore's husband Frank Charnley, whom she married in 1980, is a lawyer.[12] Dunmore had a son, daughter and stepson, and three grandchildren at the time of her death.[1]

Awards and honours[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Novels[edit]

  • Zennor in Darkness (1993, McKitterick Prize 1994)
  • Burning Bright (1994)
  • A Spell of Winter (1995, Orange Prize 1996)
  • Talking to the Dead (1996)
  • Your Blue-Eyed Boy (1998)
  • With your Crooked Heart (1999)
  • The Siege (2001, shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award and the Orange Prize 2002)
  • Mourning Ruby (2003)[23]
  • House of Orphans (2006)
  • Counting the Stars (2008)
  • The Betrayal (2010, longlisted for the Man Booker prize)
  • The Greatcoat (2012) (ISBN 978-0-09-956493-5)
  • The Lie (2014)
  • Exposure (2016) (ISBN 978-0-09-195394-2)
An "Exclusive edition for independent bookshops" (ISBN 978-1-78633-000-0) includes a 14-page essay "On Reading"[24]

Short story collections[edit]

Young adult books[edit]

  • Zillah and Me!
    • The Lilac Tree (first published as Zillah and Me) (2004)
    • The Seal Cove (first published as The Zillah Rebellion) (2004)
    • The Silver Bead (2004)
  • The Ingo Chronicles

Children's books[edit]

  • Going to Egypt (1992)
  • In the Money (1995)
  • Go Fox (1996)
  • Fatal Error (1996)
  • Amina's Blanket (1996)
  • Allie's Apples (1997)
  • Bestiary (1997)
  • Clyde's Leopard (1998)
  • Great-Grandma's Dancing Dress (1998)
  • Brother Brother, Sister Sister (1999)
  • Allie's Rabbit (1999)
  • Allie's Away (2000)
  • Aliens Don't Eat Bacon Sandwiches (2000)
  • The Ugly Duckling (2001)
  • Tara's Tree House (2003)
  • The Ferry Birds (2010)
  • The Islanders (2011)
  • The Lonely Sea Dragon (2013)

Poetry collections[edit]

  • The Apple Fall (Bloodaxe Books, 1983)
  • The Sea Skater (Bloodaxe Books, 1986)
  • The Raw Garden (Bloodaxe Books, 1988)
  • Short Days, Long Nights: New & Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 1991)
  • Recovering a Body (Bloodaxe Books, 1994)
  • Secrets (The Bodley Head, 1994) [children's poetry title]
  • Bestiary (Bloodaxe Books, 1997)
  • Out of the Blue: Poems 1975–2001 (Bloodaxe Books, 2001)
  • Snollygoster and Other Poems (Scholastic Press, 2001) [children's poetry title]
  • Glad of these times (Bloodaxe Books, 2007)
  • The Malarkey (Bloodaxe Books, 2012)
  • Inside the Wave (Bloodaxe Books, 2017)

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Kellaway, Kate (5 June 2017). "Helen Dunmore obituary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  2. ^ "Helen Dunmore – Literature". British Council Literature. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  3. ^ Cain, Sian (30 January 2018). "Helen Dunmore wins Costa book of the year for Inside the Wave". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  4. ^ Sutton High School Magazine, 1965 and 1967. (Poems published in 1965 and 1967, and prize awarded for History and English listed in 1967 magazine.)
  5. ^ "News And Publicity | Bloodaxe Books". www.bloodaxebooks.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  6. ^ "Helen Dunmore: facing mortality and what we leave behind". The Guardian. 4 March 2017. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 4 June 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  7. ^ Cain, Sian (5 June 2017). "Poet and author Helen Dunmore dies aged 64". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 June 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Helen Dunmore, poet and novelist, dies aged 64". BBC News. 6 June 2017. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017.
  9. ^ "Death of Novelist Helen Dunmore Announced". Foyles. 5 June 2017. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Costa Poetry Award 2017" (PDF). Costa Book Awards. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  11. ^ a b Cain, Sian (2 January 2018). "Helen Dunmore wins posthumous Costa award for collection Inside the Wave". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  12. ^ Macdonald, Marianne (21 September 2003). "A writer's life: Helen Dunmore". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Helen Dunmore 1952–2017". The Poetry Society. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  14. ^ "Past winners of the McKitterick Prize". Society of Authors. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  15. ^ McCrum, Robert (10 June 2001). "The Siege is a novel for now". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 17 March 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
  16. ^ Woodman, Sue (1 July 1996). "Orange is a female color". The Nation. Washington D.C. Retrieved 12 December 2011.(subscription required)
  17. ^ Dowson, Jane; Entwistle, Alice (2005). A History of Twentieth-Century British Women's Poetry. Cambridge University Press. p. xx. ISBN 978-0-521-81946-6. Helen Dunmore Cardiff International Poetry Prize.
  18. ^ "Helen Dunmore – Orange Prize winner – Poetry". Archived from the original on 28 March 2015.
  19. ^ "The Man Booker Prize 2010". 29 April 2010. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  20. ^ "Helen Dunmore Bloodaxe author page". Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  21. ^ "National Poetry Competition: History". The Poetry Society. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  22. ^ "2015 Shortlist announced". Walter Scott Prize. 24 March 2015. Archived from the original on 26 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  23. ^ Showalter, Elaine (27 September 2003). "Dreams of a dead daughter". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2017.. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  24. ^ Dunmore, Helen (2016). "On Reading: an exclusive for independent bookshops". Exposure. Hutchnson. pp. 395–410. ISBN 978-1-78633-000-0. Title page of essay on p 395, text of essay on pp. 397–410. Dustjacket bears the words "Exclusive edition for independent bookshops"

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Helen Dunmore.
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