Brian Turner (American poet): Difference between revisions

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{{short description|American poet}}

'''Brian Turner''' is an American poet and the winner of the 2005 [[Beatrice Hawley Award]] for poetry.

{{other people|Brian Turner}}

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'''Brian Turner''' (born 1967)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.loc.gov/legacy.html|title=LC Catalog - Legacy Catalog Retired|website=catalog.loc.gov}}</ref> is an American poet, essayist, and professor. He won the 2005 [[Beatrice Hawley Award]] for his debut collection, ''Here, Bullet'' ([[Alice James Books]]) the first of many awards and honors received for this collection of poems about his experience as a soldier in the [[Iraq War]]. 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]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/projects/4/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202123348/http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/projects/4/|url-status=dead|title=Poetry Book Society > T.S. Eliot Prize 2010 Shortlist|archivedate=February 2, 2011}}</ref> is ''Phantom Noise'' (Alice James Books, USA; Bloodaxe Books, UK, 2010).

==Early life and education==

From [[Fresno, California]], Turner has seen his poems published in ''Poetry Daily'', ''Atlanta Review'', ''Crab Orchard Review'', ''Georgia Review'', ''Rattle'', and ''ZYZZYVA''. His poems have also appeared in the ''Voices in Wartime'' anthology. He received the Beatrice Hawley Award for his debut collection, ''Here, Bullet'', published by Alice James Books.

Turner was born in [[Visalia, California]], and raised in [[Fresno]] and then [[Madera County]] through high school and attended [[Fresno City College]] before transferring to [[Fresno State]] for his BA and MA. He received his MFA from the [[University of Oregon]]. He taught English in South Korea for a year, and traveled to Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan.<ref>[http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/1968 ''Fresno Famous'' > Interview: ''A Poetic Adventure'' > By Jefferson Beavers > March 19, 2006] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011112222/http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/1968 |date=October 11, 2008 }}</ref>

==Military service==

Turner is an MFA graduate of the [[University of Oregon]] and a [[U.S. Army]] veteran. He was an infantry team leader for a year in [[Iraq]] 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-Herzegovina]]. Before his military service, Turner lived in [[South Korea]] for a year.

Turner is a [[United States Army]] veteran, and was an infantry team leader for a year in the [[Iraq War]] 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]].

==Career==

The U.S. poet Brian Turner should not be confused with a [[New Zealand]] poet of the same name. The poets Brian Turner should not be confused with the drummer for the Seattle-based band [[Schoolyard Heroes]] nor with the well-known chef, who also bear that name.

Turner has seen his poems published in ''The Cortland Review,''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cortlandreview.com/features/09/spring/index.html?ref=home|title=''The Cortland Review'' > Spring 2009}}</ref>'' Poetry Daily, Atlanta Review, Crab Orchard Review, Georgia Review, Rattle, [[Virginia Quarterly Review]],'' and ''ZYZZYVA,''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.zyzzyva.org/fall03.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090706205703/http://www.zyzzyva.org/fall03.htm|url-status=dead|title=''ZYZZYVA'' > Fall 2003 • #68 • Vol. XIX, No. 2|archivedate=July 6, 2009}}</ref> 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''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/baghdad/turner-text|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110620235132/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/baghdad/turner-text|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 20, 2011|title=''National Geographic'' > July 2011 > Feature Article > ''Baghdad After the Storm'' by Brian Turner}}</ref> and a series of essays for ''The New York Times'' blog, ''Home Fires.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com//author/brian-turner/|title=Brian Turner - Opinionator - The New York Times|website=opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com|date=10 November 2011 }}</ref>

Turner received major media attention for ''Here, Bullet,'' interviewed or featured in ''The New Yorker,''<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/11/14/war-poet|title=War Poet|date=November 7, 2005|magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> ''The New York Times,''<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/books/review/poetry-chronicle.html|title=Poetry Chronicle|first1=Joshua|last1=Clover|first2=Joel|last2=Brouwer|work=The New York Times |date=November 27, 2005|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref> on ''The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,''<ref>[https://archive.today/20120914014921/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/entertainment/poetry/profiles/poet_turner.html ''The NewsHour'': Poetry Series > Poet Profile > Brian Turner > PBS]</ref> 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]] published the U.K. edition of ''Here, Bullet'' in 2007<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852247991|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118223415/http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852247991|url-status=dead|title=Bloodaxe Books > Brian Turner > Author Page|archivedate=January 18, 2008}}</ref> His works have been included in such anthologies as ''The Best American Poetry 2007''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kH6s4FbzzPAC&dq=brian+turner&pg=PA104|title=The Best American Poetry 2007: Series Editor David Lehman|first1=David|last1=Lehman|first2=Heather|last2=McHugh|date=September 11, 2007|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781416568353 |via=Google Books}}</ref> and ''A mind apart: poems of melancholy, madness, and addiction''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_CUOk2vWWkC&dq=brian+turner&pg=PA330|title=A Mind Apart: Poems of Melancholy, Madness, and Addiction|first=Mark S.|last=Bauer|date=November 14, 2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-971444-5 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Texts by Turner are the basis of the large-scale musical composition ''[[Dreams of the Fallen]]'' by [[Jake Runestad]], first performed at [[The National WWII Museum]] in [[New Orleans]] on [[Veterans Day]], 11 November 2013.

==Print resource==

*Goodyear, Dana. "Ink: War Poet" (Talk of the Town). ''[[The New Yorker]]''. Nov. 14, 2005. pg. 39.

==Books==

* ''Here, Bullet'', [[Alice James Books]], [[2005 in poetry|2005]], {{ISBN|978-1-882295-55-5}}; [[Bloodaxe Books]], UK, 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-85224-799-7}}.

* ''Phantom Noise'', [[Alice James Books]], [[2010 in poetry|2010]], {{ISBN|978-1-882295-80-7}}; [[Bloodaxe Books]], UK, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-85224-876-5}}.

* ''My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir'', 2014; [[W. W. Norton & Company]] {{ISBN|978-0393245011}}

* ''The Kiss: Intimacies from Writers'', 2018, (editor); [[W. W. Norton & Company]] {{ISBN|978-0393635263}}

* ''The Goodbye World Poem'', 2023; [[Alice James Books]] {{ISBN|9781949944549}}

==Honors and awards==

* [[2016 in poetry|2016]]: 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/brian-turner/|title=Brian Turner|website=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation}}</ref>

* 2012: JUSFC Japan-US Friendship Commission Fellowship

* 2009: 2009 Fellow Award from [[United States Artists]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/Public2/Home/index.cfm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101110032536/http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/Public2/Home/index.cfm|url-status=dead|title=United States Artists Official Website|archivedate=November 10, 2010}}</ref>

* [[2009 in poetry|2009]]: [[Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship]]

* [[2008 in poetry|2008]]: 2008 Charity Randall Citation

* [[2007 in poetry|2007]]: NEA Literature Fellowship in Poetry<ref>[http://www.nea.gov/Grants/recent/07grants/Lit.html NEA 2007 Literature Fellowships in Poetry] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206092453/http://www.nea.gov/Grants/recent/07grants/Lit.html |date=February 6, 2007 }}</ref>

* [[2007 in poetry|2007]]: [[Poets' Prize]] for ''Here Bullet''

* [[2006 in poetry|2006]]: Maine Literary Award in Poetry

* [[2006 in poetry|2006]]: Northern California Book Award in Poetry

* [[2006 in poetry|2006]]: PEN Center USA "Best in the West" Literary Award in Poetry

* [[2006 in poetry|2006]]: Sheila Margaret Motten Award from the New England Poetry Club

* [[2006 in poetry|2006]]: [[Lannan Literary Fellowship]]

* [[2005 in poetry|2005]]: [[Beatrice Hawley Award]]

==Personal life==

Turner married fellow poet Ilyse Kusnetz (1966-2016) in 2010.<ref name=Ilyse>{{cite web |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ilyse-kusnetz |title=Ilyse Kusnetz (1966–2016) |last= |first= |date= |website=Poetry Foundation |access-date=5 June 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref name=MeSmiling>{{cite web |url=https://www.pw.org/content/a_space_odyssey_of_healing_brian_turner_and_the_interplanetary_acoustic_team |title=A Space Odyssey of Healing: Brian Turner and the Interplanetary Acoustic Team |last=Metres |first=Philip |date=13 July 2018 |website= |access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

*Goodyear, Dana. "Ink: War Poet" (Talk of the Town). ''[[The New Yorker]]''. November 14, 2005. pg. 39.

*Outside the Wire: American Soldiers' Voices from Afghanistan, Christine Dumaine Leche (Editor), Brian Turner (Foreword)

==External links==

{{Portal|Biography}}

*Interview with Brian Turner [http://www.alicejamesbooks.org/turner_interview.html]

*[http://www.guernicamag.com/features/turner_10_15_11/ Guernica: A Magazine of Art and Politics: "Poetry's Urban Landscape"]

*New York Foundation for the Arts [http://www.nyfa.org/level3.asp?id=418&fid=6&sid=17]

*[http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/author/bturner/ Poetry Blog: Brian Turner's Poetry Journal at the Poetry Foundation]

*Review of Turner in the [[New Yorker]] [http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/051114ta_talk_goodyear]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101105013106/http://tuesdaynightreading.blip.tv/file/1271154 Video: Brian Turner Reading at the Santa Cruz Bookshop]

*Review of Turner in ''rhubarb is susan'' [http://rhubarbissusan.blogspot.com/2005/11/brian-turner-observation-post-71.html]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060207223103/http://www.alicejamesbooks.org/turner_interview.html Alice James Books > Interview with Brian Turner]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060515072845/http://www.nyfa.org/level3.asp?id=418&fid=6&sid=17 New York Foundation for the Arts > Interview with Brian Turner]

*[http://www.fishousepoems.org/archives/brian_turner/index.shtml Audio: Brian Turner Reading for ''Fishousepoems.org'']

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090210042540/http://www.alicejamesbooks.org/here_bullet.html Brian Turner Author Page > Alice James Books Website]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080829184441/http://www.lannan.org/lf/rc/event/brian-turner-and-bruce-weigl/ Lannan Foundation - Interview: Brian Turner and Bruce Weigl with Michael Silverblatt]

* [http://www.blueflowerarts.com/booking/brian-turner/ Blue Flower Arts > Author's Booking Agency]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110208001653/http://www.vqronline.org/webexclusive/2008/08/27/hicks-conversation-brian-turner/ "A Conversation with Brian Turner"], ''Virginia Quarterly Review'', 08-27-2008

*[http://www.berfrois.com/2011/04/stacey-peebles-stories-from-the-suck/ "Stories from the Suck: The First Wave of Iraq War Narratives"], Stacey Peebles, ''[http://www.berfrois.com/ Berfrois]'', 04-15-2011

===Reviews===

*{{cite news| url=http://www.cprw.com/Baker/turner.htm| title=Poetry's Embedded Soldier| work=[[Contemporary Poetry Review]]| year=2006| accessdate=2010-08-28 }}

*{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/us/08military.html?_r=1| title=A Well-Written War, Told in the First Person| author= Bumiller| date= February 7, 2010| work=The New York Times| accessdate=2010-08-28 }}

*{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/27/AR2010082704859.html?wprss=rss_print/style | title="Phantom Noise," a new collection by "The Hurt Locker" poet Brian Turner| newspaper=The Washington Post| author=Courtney Cook| date= August 28, 2010| accessdate=2010-08-28 }}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category{{DEFAULTSORT:American writers|Turner, Brian]]}}

[[Category:Poets|Turner,1967 Brianbirths]]

[[Category:Fresnans|Turner,Living Brianpeople]]

[[Category:American male poets]]

[[Category:American essayists]]

[[Category:Educators from Nevada]]

[[Category:Writers from Fresno, California]]

[[Category:University of Oregon alumni]]

[[Category:Fresno City College alumni]]

[[Category:Sierra Nevada College]]

[[Category:California State University, Fresno alumni]]

[[Category:National Endowment for the Arts Fellows]]

[[Category:United States Army personnel of the Iraq War]]

[[Category:American male essayists]]

[[Category:War poets]]

[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]

[[Category:21st-century American poets]]

[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]