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.

Quote by Helen Dunmore

Topics: Helen Dunmore Quotes

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

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

A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to...

A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to...

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

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

I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early...

I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early...

Fiction came quite a while later. I began with short stories and fiction for children.

Fiction came quite a while later. I began with short stories and fiction for children.

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

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

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

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

Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the...

Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the...

I concentrate on the lives of individuals whom the reader comes to know and feel...

I concentrate on the lives of individuals whom the reader comes to know and feel...

As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed...

As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed...

I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves -...

I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves -...

I have learned so much from working with other poets, travelling and reading with them,...

I have learned so much from working with other poets, travelling and reading with them,...

However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with...

However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with...

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

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

The poets whom I knew then were all men and all seemed dauntingly sure of...

The poets whom I knew then were all men and all seemed dauntingly sure of...

I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to...

I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to...

Children will not pretend to be enjoying books, and they will not read books because...

Children will not pretend to be enjoying books, and they will not read books because...

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

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

Mourning Ruby is not a flat landscape: it is more like a box with pictures...

Mourning Ruby is not a flat landscape: it is more like a box with pictures...

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

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