Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the head of the reader. You learn the weight of words and how they sound to the ear.

Helen Dunmore (born 12 December 1952) is a British poet novelist and children's writer. She has won awards for her fiction (the Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize and the Orange Prize) and also for her poetry (Helen Dunmore has won the Cardiff International Poetry Prize been shortlisted for the T. Educated at the University of York Helen Dunmore now lives in Bristol.

Educated at the University of York Helen Dunmore now lives in Bristol. Eliot Prize and had her books named as Poetry Book Society Choice and Recommendations). Helen Dunmore (born 12 December 1952) is a British poet novelist and children's writer.