Julian Turner

Who is Julian Turner?

Julian Turner is a British poet and mental health worker. Turner was born in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, then moved to Cheshire in 1955. He now lives in Otley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, with his partner and their daughter.

He was educated at New College, Oxford and Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Turner was the Chief Executive of Leeds Mind until autumn 2010.

His poems have been published in periodicals including Poetry London, The Reater, and The Realto, and in The Ring of Words: Poems from the Daily Telegraph Arvon International Poetry Competition 1998

In 1993, he won First Prize in the Nortwords poetry competition for his poem Whale Bone.

In 2002, his collection Crossing the Outskirts was published by Anvil Press Poetry. It was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize. A number of poems in the collection deal with mental health issues. For example, 'Tennis Ball' is about suicide and 'The Director's Cut' is about self-harm. The poems in this collection observe traditional conventions of rhyme and metre.

In 2004, he won a Bridport Supplementary Prize for his poem 'The Gas Poker'.