Brian Turner (born 1967) is an American poet, essayist, and professor. He won the 2005

Beatrice Hawley Award The Alice James Award, formerly the Beatrice Hawley Award, is given annually by Alice James Books. The award includes publication of a book-length poetry manuscript and a cash prize (currently $2,000). The award was established by the press in 1986 ...

for his debut collection, ''Here, Bullet'' (

Alice James Books Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in Farmington, Maine and affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington. History and mission "Alice James Books was founded as a co-operative press in Cambridge, MA in 19 ...

) the first of many awards and honors received for this collection of poems about his experience as a soldier in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. His honors since include a Lannan Literary Fellowship and NEA Literature Fellowship in Poetry, and the Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship. His second collection, shortlisted for the 2010

T.S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

is ''Phantom Noise'' (Alice James Books, USA; Bloodaxe Books, UK, 2010).

Early life and education

Turner was born in

Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...

, and raised in

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

and then

Madera County Madera County (), officially the County of Madera, is a county at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 156,255. The county seat is Madera. Madera County comprises the Madera, CA Metr ...

through high school and attended

Fresno City College Fresno City College (FCC or "Fresno City") is a public community college in Fresno, California. It is part of the State Center Community College District within the California Community Colleges system. Fresno City College operates on a semester ...

before transferring to

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

for his BA and MA. He received his MFA from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

. He taught English in South Korea for a year, and traveled to Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan.

Military service

Turner is a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

veteran, and was an infantry team leader for a year in the

beginning November 2003, with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. In 1999 and 2000 he was with the 10th Mountain Division, deployed in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

Career

Turner has seen his poems published in ''The Cortland Review,' Poetry Daily, Atlanta Review, Crab Orchard Review, Georgia Review, Rattle,

Virginia Quarterly Review The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussion"'' ...

,'' and ''ZYZZYVA,'' and in anthologies including ''Voices in Wartime: The Anthology'' (Whit Press, 2005) and ''Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families'' (Random House, 2006). His published essays include one for ''National Geographic'' and a series of essays for ''The New York Times'' blog, ''Home Fires.'' Turner received major media attention for ''Here, Bullet,'' interviewed or featured in ''The New Yorker,'' ''The New York Times,'' on ''The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,'' on ''Morning Edition'' and other NPR programs, ''The Verb'' (BBC), and many other venues. He was featured in the film, '' Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience,'' nominated for a 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

published the U.K. edition of ''Here, Bullet'' in 2007 His works have been included in such anthologies as ''The Best American Poetry 2007'' and ''A mind apart: poems of melancholy, madness, and addiction''. Texts by Turner are the basis of the large-scale musical composition '' Dreams of the Fallen'' by

Jake Runestad Jake Runestad (born 20 May 1986) is an American composer and conductor of classical music based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has composed music for a wide variety of musical genres and ensembles, but has achieved greatest acclaim for his wo ...

, first performed at

The National WWII Museum The National WWII Museum, formerly known as The National D-Day Museum, is a military history museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp Street and Magazine Street. The m ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Veterans Day Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than di ...

, 11 November 2013.

Books

* ''Here, Bullet'',

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, ;

, UK, 2007, . * ''Phantom Noise'',

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, ;

, UK, 2010, . * ''My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir'', 2014; W. W. Norton & Company * ''The Kiss: Intimacies from Writers'', 2018, (editor); W. W. Norton & Company

Honors and awards

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

: 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry * 2012: JUSFC Japan-US Friendship Commission Fellowship * 2009: 2009 Fellow Award from

United States Artists United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards. Mission The organization' ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship The Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship is given annually to a U.S.-born poet to spend one year outside North America in a country the recipient feels will most advance his or her work. When poet Amy Lowell died in 1925, her will established ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

: 2008 Charity Randall Citation *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

: NEA Literature Fellowship in PoetryNEA 2007 Literature Fellowships in Poetry
*

Poets' Prize The Poets' Prize is awarded annually for the best book of verse published by a living American poet two years prior to the award year. The $3000 annual prize is donated by a committee of about 20 American poets, who each nominate two books and who ...

for ''Here Bullet'' *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

: Maine Literary Award in Poetry *

: Northern California Book Award in Poetry *

: PEN Center USA "Best in the West" Literary Award in Poetry *

: Sheila Margaret Motten Award from the New England Poetry Club *

Lannan Literary Fellowship The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...

Personal life

Turner married fellow poet Ilyse Kusnetz (1966-2016) in 2010. He created an album titled ''11 11 (Me Smiling)'' using lines from her poetry, in some instances in her own voice, from tapes of her readings, and others, him reading from her poems.

References

External links

Guernica: A Magazine of Art and Politics: "Poetry's Urban Landscape"Poetry Blog: Brian Turner's Poetry Journal at the Poetry FoundationVideo: Brian Turner Reading at the Santa Cruz BookshopNew York Foundation for the Arts > Interview with Brian TurnerAudio: Brian Turner Reading for ''Fishousepoems.org''

Lannan Foundation - Interview: Brian Turner and Bruce Weigl with Michael Silverblatt

Blue Flower Arts > Author's Booking Agency"A Conversation with Brian Turner"
''Virginia Quarterly Review'', 08-27-2008
"Stories from the Suck: The First Wave of Iraq War Narratives"
Stacey Peebles,
Berfrois
', 04-15-2011

Reviews

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Brian 1967 births Living people American male poets American essayists Educators from Nevada Writers from Fresno, California University of Oregon alumni Fresno City College alumni Sierra Nevada College California State University, Fresno alumni National Endowment for the Arts Fellows United States Army personnel of the Iraq War American male essayists War poets People from Fresno, California United States Army soldiers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American male writers