Helen Dunmore
# Helen Dunmore

Helen Dunmore FRSL (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, 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.

## Biography

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 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. 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. 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 Choice, The Raw Garden
* 1994: McKitterick Prize, Zennor in Darkness
* 1996: Orange Prize (inaugural winner), A Spell of Winter
* 1990: Cardiff International Poetry Prize
* 1997: T. S. Eliot Prize, shortlist, Bestiary
* 2010: Man Booker Prize, longlist, The Betrayal
* 2010: National Poetry Competition winner, "The Malarkey"
* 2015: Walter Scott Prize, shortlist, The Lie
* 2017 (posthumously): Costa Book Awards Poetry and Book of the Year Awards, Inside the Wave
