Rooms of their own

Helen Dunmore is a prolific and prize-winning writer of poetry, fiction and children's books. But, she tells KATY GUEST, she and her characters need their own space Walking through her publisher's just-refurbished offices on the way to our interview, Helen Dunmore seems concerned. Penguin's boxy headquarters on the Strand have been knocked through and cleaned up, the tiny offices made into acres of efficient open-plan. Don't they mind losing their personal space? Having a room of one's own is a concept clearly very close to her heart. As soon as she started to make it as a writer she found a...