Helen Dunmore

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HD first established herself as a poet, but became internationally known as a novelist when she won the Orange Prize in 1996. A prolific writer, she also had considerable success with books for children.

Milestones

12 December 1952

HD was born at Beverley in Yorkshire, the second of four children.
Who’s Who. Adam and Charles Black.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
267
Dunmore, Helen. Helen Dunmore. http://www.helendunmore.com/index.asp.

13 March 1995

HD 's next book, the historical novel A Spell of Winter (written while she was pregnant), was felt to have made her reputation.
Blackwell’s Online Bookshop. http://Bookshop.Blackwell.co.uk.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.
Taylor, Debbie. “Interview with Helen Dunmore”. Mslexia, Vol.
12
, pp. 39-40.
39
Crown, Sarah. “A Life in Writing”. The Guardian, pp. Review 12 - 13.
Review 13

25 May 2017

Eleven days before she died, HD wrote on her smartphone a poem she called Hold out your arms. She sent it to her publisher, Neil Astley of Bloodaxe, next day.
Kean, Danuta, and Helen Dunmore. “Helen Dunmore’s family reveal poem written in the author’s last days”. theguardian.com.

5 June 2017

HD died of cancer at the age of sixty-four.
Kellaway, Kate. “Helen Dunmore obituary”. theguardian.com.

Biography

Birth and Family

12 December 1952

HD was born at Beverley in Yorkshire, the second of four children.
Who’s Who. Adam and Charles Black.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
267
Dunmore, Helen. Helen Dunmore. http://www.helendunmore.com/index.asp.