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Helen Dunmore

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Helen Dunmore
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. 1981)
ChildrenPatrick
Tess
Ollie (stepson)

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

Biography

Dunmore was born in Beverley, Yorkshire, in 1952, the second of four children of Betty (née Smith) and Maurice Dunmore. She studied English at York University, and lived in Finland for two years (1973–75) and worked as a teacher. She lived after that in Bristol.[3][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 2017, she published her last book, Birdcage Walk, before writing an article about mortality for The Guardian after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.[4] She died on 5 June 2017.[1][5][6][7] Her final poetry collection Inside the Wave, published shortly before her death, posthumously won the 2017 Costa Book Awards Poetry Award.[8][9]

Personal life

Her husband Frank Charnley, whom she married in 1980, is a lawyer.[10] Dunmore had a son, daughter and stepson, and three grandchildren at the time of her death.[1]

Awards and honours

Bibliography

Novels

  • Zennor in Darkness (1993) (McKitterick Prize 1994)
  • Burning Bright (1994)
  • A Spell of Winter (Orange Prize 1996)
  • Talking to the Dead (1996)
  • Your Blue-Eyed Boy (1998)
  • With your Crooked Heart (1999)
  • The Siege (Shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; shortlisted for the Orange Prize 2002)
  • Mourning Ruby (2003)[20]
  • House of Orphans (2006)
  • Counting the Stars (2008)
  • The Betrayal (Longlisted for the Man Booker prize 2010)
  • 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"[21]
  • Birdcage Walk (2017)

Short story collections

  • Love of Fat Men (1997)
  • Ice Cream (2001)
  • Rose, 1944 (2005)

Young adult books

  • 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

  • Going to Egypt (1992)
  • In the Money (1995)
  • Go Fox (1996)
  • Fatal Error (1996)
  • Amina's Blanket (1996)
  • Allie's Apples (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 (April 2010)
  • The Lonely Sea Dragon (April 2013)

Poetry collections

  • 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

  1. ^ a b c d Kate Kellaway (5 June 2017). "Helen Dunmore obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  2. ^ "Helen Dunmore - Literature". British Council Literature. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  3. ^ "News And Publicity | Bloodaxe Books". www.bloodaxebooks.com. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  4. ^ "Helen Dunmore: facing mortality and what we leave behind". The Guardian. 4 March 2017. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  5. ^ Cain, Sian (5 June 2017). "Poet and author Helen Dunmore dies aged 64". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  6. ^ "Helen Dunmore, poet and novelist, dies aged 64". BBC News. 6 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Death of Novelist Helen Dunmore Announced". Foyles. 5 June 2017.
  8. ^ a b "Costa Poetry Award 2017" (PDF). Costa Book Awards. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  9. ^ a b Cain, Sian (2 January 2018). "Helen Dunmore wins posthumous Costa award for collection Inside the Wave". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  10. ^ Marianne Macdonald (21 September 2003). "A writer's life: Helen Dunmore". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  11. ^ "Helen Dunmore 1952-2017". The Poetry Society. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  12. ^ "Past winners of the McKitterick Prize". Society of Authors.
  13. ^ McCrum, Robert (10 June 2001). "The Siege is a novel for now". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
  14. ^ Woodman, Sue (1 July 1996). "Orange is a female color". The Nation. Washington D.C. Retrieved 12 December 2011.(subscription required)
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ "Helen Dunmore – Orange Prize winner – Poetry". Archived from the original on 28 March 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ "The Man Booker Prize 2010". Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  18. ^ "Helen Dunmore Bloodaxe author page". Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  19. ^ "2015 Shortlist announced". Walter Scott Prize. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  20. ^ Elaine Showalter, "Dreams of a dead daughter", 27 September 2003, The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  21. ^ 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

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