Warren Community College Visiting Authors Series hosts Brian Turner on Nov. 15
Poet, Memoirist, and Veteran Brian Turner to Present at Warren Community College On Wednesday, November 15
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, NJ (Warren County) – The Warren County Community College Visiting Authors Series continues on Wednesday, Nov. 15, with a reading and master class by the memoirist and poet, Brian Turner.
The reading, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in room 123A, is free and open to the public.
Brian Turner is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently: The Wild Delight of Wild Things (2023), The Goodbye World Poem (2023), and The Dead Peasant’s Handbook (2023), all forthcoming with Alice James Books. This trilogy of books traverses the landscape of loss, sitting quietly in the grief of afterwards before allowing oneself to gravitate again towards delight and wonder.
Some of his other collections include Here, Bullet (2005), winner of the Beatrice Hawley Award, the New York Times “Editor’s Choice” selection, and the PEN Center USA “Best in the West” award; and Phantom Noise (2010). He is also the author of the memoir My Life as a Foreign Country, which made Powell’s Best Nonfiction of 2014 list.
The book follows the experience of one soldier in one recent war—the preparations, actions, homecomings, and infinite aftermath—but then explodes from those narrow limits. In his poetry and prose, Turner conveys both elegant and devastating portraits of what it means to be a soldier and a human being.
Turner served seven years in the US Army, including one year as an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Prior to that, he was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999-2000 with the 10th Mountain Division. His poems and essays have been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, Harper’s, among other fine journals, and he was featured in the documentary film Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, which was nominated for an Academy Award.
His poems have been published and translated into Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Swedish, and more. He lives in Orlando, Florida, with his dog, Dene, the world’s sweetest golden retriever.
Before giving a reading, Turner will conduct a master class at the college, commencing at 4:00 p.m. This event is also free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required. Interested attendees should contact Professor BJ Ward, Director of the Visiting Authors Series, at 908-835-2531 or email ward@warren.edu.
The evening reading will be followed by a brief Q & A with the audience and a book signing. Frenchtown Bookshop will be onsite for the reading, selling Turner’s books.
The Visiting Authors Series is supported by a grant from the Warren County Division of Cultural & Heritage Affairs. All physical site facilities comply with ADA regulations and are fully accessible. Sign language interpretation for any VAS event is available with two weeks’ notice.
Warren Community College, located at 475 Route 57 West in Washington, offers creative writing workshops and literature courses throughout the year.
