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, th ...

(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 ...

'', '' A Spell of Winter'' and ''

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

'', and her last book of poetry ''

Inside the Wave ''Inside the Wave'' is Helen Dunmore's last poetry collection, about impending death, published shortly before her death. In the 2017 Costa Book Awards it won the Poetry Award and the Book of the Year Award. Book Helen Dunmore (1952–2017) p ...

''. 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 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

, the

National Poetry Competition The National Poetry Competition is an annual poetry prize established in 1978 in the United Kingdom. It is run by the UK-based 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.

Biography

Dunmore was born in

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

, Yorkshire, in 1952, the second of four children of Betty (''née'' Smith) and Maurice Dunmore. She attended Sutton High School, London and Nottingham Girls' High School, 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 , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

, and lived in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

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

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. Dunmore was a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature 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, th ...

(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 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

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

'', 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 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, who had been an editor of ''The Political Quarterly'' but had also written a novel which was never publ ...

, ''

'' * 1996:

Orange Prize The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

(inaugural winner), '' A Spell of Winter'' * 1990:

Cardiff International Poetry Prize Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

* 1997:

T. S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

, shortlist, ''Bestiary'' * 2010:

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

, 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 be ...

'' * 2010:

winner, "The Malarkey" * 2015:

Walter Scott Prize The Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010.Walter Sc ...

, 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 UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

Poetry and Book of the Year Awards, ''

Bibliography

Novels

*''

'' (1993,

1994) *''Burning Bright'' (1994) *'' A Spell of Winter'' (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 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 Sc ...

2018)

Short story collections

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

Ice Cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

'' (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 ...

'' (2006) **'' The Deep'' (2007) **''

The Crossing of Ingo ''The Crossing of Ingo'' is a children's fantasy novel by Helen Dunmore, first published in 2008. It is the fourth and final volume in the ''Ingo'' tetralogy. It was longlisted for the 2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize. Plot summary Sapphire and ...

'' (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) *''

'' (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 Women writers of young adult literature