Quotes by Helen Dunmore

About Helen Dunmore:

Helen Dunmore is a British poet, novelist and children's writer. Educated at the University of York, she now lives in Bristol. Dunmore is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL). Some of her children's books are now included in reading schemes for use in schools.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

For you where never my blood sister so no more shall I call you little sister

Helen Dunmore

I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early age by the culture, the language, the literature and the history to the place.

Helen Dunmore

Otulissa swelled up to twice her normal size. 'Well, SPRINK ON YOUR SPRONK!

Helen Dunmore

They wanted spring, of course they wanted it, more than anything. They longed for sun with every pore of their skin. But spring hurts. If spring can come, if things can be different, how can you bear what your existence has been?

Helen Dunmore

Childhood is a slum and they love it.

Helen Dunmore

Mourning Ruby is not a flat landscape: it is more like a box with pictures painted on every face. And each face is also a door which opens, I hope, to take the reader deep into the book.

Helen Dunmore

I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves - and then, maybe, read them again and find new things there.

Helen Dunmore

To try to expunge an individual's history is a terrible violation.

Helen Dunmore

However, I began to submit poems to British magazines, and some were accepted. It was a great moment to see my first poems published. It felt like entering a tradition.

Helen Dunmore

Children will not pretend to be enjoying books, and they will not read books because they have been told that these books are good. They are looking for delight.

Helen Dunmore

When you are young you don't always realise how full of doubts everybody is.

Helen Dunmore

Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.

Helen Dunmore

Writing children's books gives a writer a very strong sense of narrative drive.

Helen Dunmore

The language has got to be fully alive - I can't bear dull, flaccid writing myself and I don't see why any reader should put up with it.

Helen Dunmore

Poets go through a very tough apprenticeship in the use of words.

Helen Dunmore

My first collection of poems was published by Bloodaxe Books, which was then a very new imprint.

Helen Dunmore

It is a violation which has obsessed the tyrants of the twentieth century. They do not want simply to kill their opponents, but to liquidate them, to deny that they have ever existed.

Helen Dunmore

If we understand the past, we are more likely to recognise what is happening around us.

Helen Dunmore

I would like people to come into my Dreamworld and then choose to stay.

Helen Dunmore

I was always influenced by language.

Helen Dunmore

Author Bio

  • NameHelen Dunmore
  • DescriptionBritish novelist
  • BornDecember 12, 1952
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionPoet; Writer