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

I was always influenced by language.

I was always influenced by language.

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

I could start with Mandelstam, who was a huge influence on my early writing.

I could start with Mandelstam, who was a huge influence on my early writing.

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...

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...

However, I began to submit poems to British magazines, and some were accepted. It was...

However, I began to submit poems to British magazines, and some were accepted. It was...

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...

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

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

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.

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

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

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,...

I can remember being in my pram: children stayed in their prams much longer then...

I can remember being in my pram: children stayed in their prams much longer then...

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.

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...