Helen Dunmore, obituary: award-winning poet and writer

‘Exquisite poet’ and writer of historical fiction, whose last book of verse dealt movingly with the subject of mortality

British Author Helen Dunmore (Rex)

Helen Dunmore was a remarkable poet and prolific writer who wrote eleven collections of verse, as well as twelve historical novels and numerous short stories and books for children.

She was born in Beverley, Yorkshire in 1952, educated at Nottingham High School and went on to read English at York University. After graduating she lived and worked in Finland for two years before moving to Bristol. Her debut poetry collection, The Apple Fall, was published in 1983 and was one of the first anthologies to emerge from Neil Astley’s new Bloodaxe imprint.

Her first novel, Zennor in Darkness (1993), published a decade later, tells the story of a young woman artist during World War I and imagines the life and times of DH Lawrence and his German wife seeking refuge in a Cornish coastal village, close to Dunmore’s St Ives holiday home. She said of including the couple "Their story needed to be told. We know the bare bones of what happened – but what was it like for him and Frieda in this landscape? The details intrigued me...” John le Carré described the McKitterick prize-winning book as a “beautiful and inspired novel”.

When the Orange Prize for Fiction was established in 1996, Dunmore became its first recipient, recognising her gothic novel A Spell of Winter, a tale of a brother and sister growing up on their grandfather’s estate on the eve of war. The author Kate Mosse, who co-founded the prize, described Dunmore as “an exquisite poet, and extraordinary writer for children and young adults”. Another of Dunmore’s novels, The Siege (2001), set in post-war Leningrad, was shortlisted for the same prize.

In 2010 she submitted her poem, The Malarkey, for the National Poetry Competition, anonymously and as a last minute impulse. Commenting later on her win, with a poem that so poignantly links the present and past in an instant, she said "I was surprised by how moving it was to win... The anonymity is the most powerful thing".

Dunmore’s most recent novel, Birdcage Walk, was published in March and is set in her home town during the 18th century, around the time of the French revolution. On BBC Radio 4’s Open Book she spoke about her cancer diagnosis and how it had influenced the writing of the work. She said “I think of what is the mark that any human being leaves behind, which when you are very ill you’re bound to think about... ‘What is the purpose of my existence? Have I fulfulled my existence?’ and the characters are asking that question of themselves...” She went on to express the hope that her own grandchildren could grow up knowing her through the legacy of her writing.

Her last poetry anthology, Inside the Wave, was published in April and deals with the question of mortality. Her final poem, Hold out your Arms, will appear in the book’s second edition. It begins:

Death, hold out your arms for me
Embrace me
Give me your motherly caress,
Through all this suffering
You have not forgotten me.

Helen Dunmore, born 12 December 1952, died 5 June 2017