Helen Dunmore

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(12 December 1952 – 5 June 2017) was a British poet, novelist, and short story and children's writer. Her best known works include the novels ''

Zennor in Darkness ''Zennor in Darkness'' was the debut novel from English author Helen Dunmore, published in 1993. It won the 1994 McKitterick Prize which is awarded for debut novels for writers over 40. Until that point, Dunmore was primarily a poet though she h ...

'', ''

A Spell of Winter ''A Spell of Winter'' is a 1995 literary gothic novel Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renai ...

'' and ''

The Siege ''The Siege'' is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by Edward Zwick. The film is about a situation in which terrorist cells have made several attacks in New York City. The film stars Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Tony Shalhoub ...

'', and her last book of poetry '' Inside the Wave''. She won the inaugural

Orange Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...

, the

National Poetry Competition The National Poetry Competition is an annual poetry prize established in 1978 in the United Kingdom. It is run by UK-based The Poetry Society and accepts entries from all over the world, with over 10,000 poems being submitted to the competition ...

, and posthumously the

Costa Book Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

Biography

Dunmore was born in

Beverley Beverley is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located north-west of Hull city centre. At the 2021 census the built-up area of the town had a population of 30,930, and the smaller civil parish had ...

, Yorkshire, in 1952, the second of four children of Betty (''née'' Smith) and Maurice Dunmore. She attended

Sutton High School, London Sutton High School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for girls aged 3–18 in Sutton, London, Sutton, Greater London. It is run by the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST). It was founded in 1884 by the then Girls' Publi ...

and

Nottingham Girls' High School Nottingham Girls' High School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for girls aged 3–19, situated just north of Nottingham city centre. The school was founded in 1875 and forms part of the Girls' Day School Trust. H ...

, then

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

s. She studied English at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

, and lived in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

for two years (1973–75) and worked as a teacher. She lived after that in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. Dunmore was a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

(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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' written after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She died on 5 June 2017. 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.

Personal life

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

Awards and honours

* 1987:

Poetry Book Society The Poetry Book Society (PBS) is a British subscription-based book club dedicated to selecting, recommending and publicising new poetry books. Every quarter, it selects two Poetry Book Society Choices and four Poetry Book Society Recommendations. ...

Choice, ''The Raw Garden'' * 1994:

McKitterick Prize The McKitterick Prize is a United Kingdom literary prize. It is administered by the Society of Authors. It was endowed by Tom McKitterick (journalist), Tom McKitterick, who had been an editor of ''The Political Quarterly'' but had also written ...

, ''

'' * 1996:

Orange Prize The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...

(inaugural winner), ''

'' * 1990:

Cardiff International Poetry Prize Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

* 1997:

T. S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize for poetry awarded by the T. S. Eliot Foundation. For many years it was awarded by the Eliots' Poetry Book Society (UK) for "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or t ...

, shortlist, ''Bestiary'' * 2010:

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

, longlist, ''

The Betrayal "The Betrayal" is the 164th episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the eighth episode for the ninth and final season. It aired on November 20, 1997. In this episode, Jerry betrays George by having sex with his girlfriend Nina, right ...

'' * 2010:

winner, "The Malarkey" * 2015:

Walter Scott Prize The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010.Walter S ...

, shortlist, ''The Lie'' * 2017 (posthumously):

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...

Poetry and Book of the Year Awards, '' Inside the Wave''

Bibliography

Novels

*''

'' (1993,

1994) *''Burning Bright'' (1994) *''

'' (1995,

1996) *'' Talking to the Dead'' (1996) *''Your Blue-Eyed Boy'' (1998) *''With your Crooked Heart'' (1999) *''

'' (2001, shortlisted for the

Whitbread Novel of the Year Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

and the

2002) *'' Mourning Ruby'' (2003). Retrieved 5 June 2017. *''House of Orphans'' (2006) *''Counting the Stars'' (2008) *''

'' (2010, longlisted for the

Man Booker The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

prize) *'' The Greatcoat'' (2012) () *''The Lie'' (2014) *''Exposure'' (2016) () ::An "Exclusive edition for independent bookshops" () includes a 14-page essay "On Reading" ''Title page of essay on p 395, text of essay on pp. 397–410. Dustjacket bears the words "Exclusive edition for independent bookshops"'' *''Birdcage Walk'' (2017, longlisted for the

Walter Scott Prize The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010.Walter S ...

2018)

Short story collections

*'' Love of Fat Men'' (1997) *''

Ice Cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

'' (2000) *''Rose, 1944'' (2005) *''Girl, Balancing and Other Stories'' (2018)

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 **'' Ingo'' (2005) **''

The Tide Knot ''The Tide Knot'' is a children's novel by English writer Helen Dunmore, published in 2006 and the second of the Ingo tetralogy (preceded by '' Ingo'' and followed by '' The Deep'' and '' The Crossing of Ingo''). It won the Nestlé Children's B ...

'' (2006) **'' The Deep'' (2007) **'' The Crossing of Ingo'' (2008) **''Stormswept'' (2012)

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) *''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

*''The Apple Fall'' (

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

, 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) hildren's poetry title*''Bestiary'' (Bloodaxe Books, 1997) *''Out of the Blue: Poems 1975–2001'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2001) *''Snollygoster and Other Poems'' (Scholastic Press, 2001) hildren's poetry title*''Glad of these times'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2007) *''The Malarkey'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2012) *'' Inside the Wave'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2017)

References

External links

*
HarperCollins Canada site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunmore, Helen 1952 births 2017 deaths 20th-century British novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century British novelists 21st-century English women writers Alumni of the University of York British children's writers British women children's writers British women novelists British writers of young adult literature Deaths from cancer in England English women poets Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Nottingham Girls' High School People from Beverley British women writers of young adult literature Writers from Bristol Writers from the East Riding of Yorkshire