Post by daubush35 on May 21, 2012 22:46:58 GMT -5
Brian Turner was born in the town of Visalia, California, but was raised in Fresno, California. After graduating High School, he attended the local Fresno City College before transferring to Fresno State. At Fresno State, he studied English until he received his BA and MA. Following up, Turner went to the University of Oregon where he accepted his MFA. As an English Professor, he taught all over the world in countries such as Russia, South Korea, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates.
As the 1990’s came to an end, Turner felt the need to serve his nation and joined the U.S. Army. He was first deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999 for two years.
After a couple of years later and a lot of military experience, Turner was promoted to infantry team leader in the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. After returning home, he had accumulated many experiences to write about. Many of which depict war and military life as the most dreadful place to be.
Turner compiled his painful memories of war into a book of poems. He released his book under the title Here, Bullet, after a significant poem within the book that has grown to become quite popular among his readers. Each poem takes the reader directly into one of Turner’s flashbacks that held a certain meaning to him or stood out from the rest. Many of which feature gory scenarios of friendly soldiers falling to their deaths capriciously, ambushes of hostile enemies, and the difficult life that a soldier must live among belligerent people so overtaken by hate.
Here, Bullet rocketed Turner to fame as he had won a myriad of awards. Ranging from the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award to the 2006 PEN Center USA “Best in the West” Literary Award in Poetry, to the 2009 Fellow Award from United States Artists, Brain’s success only kept growing. Not only did he receive attention from the poetic world, but also from the world media. World known newspapers such as The New York Times caught sight of him instantly. Even NPR’s Morning Edition had him on their show to discuss his poems and his experiences in the war.
Today, Turner continues to write poetry as his latest book Phantom Noise was released on the market in 2010. Although it did not receive the critical acclaim that Here, Bullet did, it continues to sell around the world with the potential of living up to the success of its predecessor.
Brain Turner has changed many people’s view of war for the better through his poetry. Instead of glorifying it like many other writers and poets, Turner shows us the truth of war. He shows us disappointment that every soldier faces when his/her childhood dream of becoming war heroes like the ones depicted on their television screens is crushed with the brutal fact of reality that going to war is not as epic or heroic as any of them have imagined.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my honor to welcome the one and only, Brain Turner!
As the 1990’s came to an end, Turner felt the need to serve his nation and joined the U.S. Army. He was first deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999 for two years.
After a couple of years later and a lot of military experience, Turner was promoted to infantry team leader in the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. After returning home, he had accumulated many experiences to write about. Many of which depict war and military life as the most dreadful place to be.
Turner compiled his painful memories of war into a book of poems. He released his book under the title Here, Bullet, after a significant poem within the book that has grown to become quite popular among his readers. Each poem takes the reader directly into one of Turner’s flashbacks that held a certain meaning to him or stood out from the rest. Many of which feature gory scenarios of friendly soldiers falling to their deaths capriciously, ambushes of hostile enemies, and the difficult life that a soldier must live among belligerent people so overtaken by hate.
Here, Bullet rocketed Turner to fame as he had won a myriad of awards. Ranging from the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award to the 2006 PEN Center USA “Best in the West” Literary Award in Poetry, to the 2009 Fellow Award from United States Artists, Brain’s success only kept growing. Not only did he receive attention from the poetic world, but also from the world media. World known newspapers such as The New York Times caught sight of him instantly. Even NPR’s Morning Edition had him on their show to discuss his poems and his experiences in the war.
Today, Turner continues to write poetry as his latest book Phantom Noise was released on the market in 2010. Although it did not receive the critical acclaim that Here, Bullet did, it continues to sell around the world with the potential of living up to the success of its predecessor.
Brain Turner has changed many people’s view of war for the better through his poetry. Instead of glorifying it like many other writers and poets, Turner shows us the truth of war. He shows us disappointment that every soldier faces when his/her childhood dream of becoming war heroes like the ones depicted on their television screens is crushed with the brutal fact of reality that going to war is not as epic or heroic as any of them have imagined.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my honor to welcome the one and only, Brain Turner!