TRO-Writing on the Wall festival partnership: Brian Turner

There is this ringing hum  this
bullet-borne language  ringing
shell-fall and static  this late-night
ringing of threadwork and carpet  ringing

From 'Phantom Noise' by Brian Turner

The Reader Organisation has teamed up with Liverpool’s exciting Writing on the Wall Festival to bring award-winning US poet Brian Turner to Liverpool at the beginning of May. Brian will read on the evening of Wednesday 2 May as part of the festival, having visited Get into Reading groups in HMP Liverpool and Mersey Care NHS Trust. The partnership with Writing on the Wall allows both the festival and TRO to reach audiences they might not otherwise interact with by showcasing the work of an excellent contemporary poet.  The audiences in HMP Liverpool and Mersey Care will have the opportunity to read Brian’s work in advance of his visit, which should make his visit all the more enjoyable and stimulating.

Brian Turner was born in California and joined the US Army in 1998, serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Iraq. His collections – Here, Bullet and Phantom Noise (which was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot prize in 2010) -- searingly describe his experiences and those of the people around him. His poem “The Hurt Locker” was used as the title for Kathryn Bigelow’s film, for which she won the Oscar for Best Director in 2009, the first woman to do so.

Open the hurt locker
and see what there is of knives
and teeth. Open the hurt locker and learn
How rough men come hunting for souls

Online ticket sales for Brian Turner’s appearance at the War Tour event at the Casa, Hope Street, 7.30pm on 2 May and further details about the festival can be found on the Writing on the Wall Festival website; for phone/in person bookings, please contact The Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Place, L1 9BG/ph: 0844 873 2888.

Keep an eye on our blog for further information about Brian’s visit to Liverpool Get Into Reading and some words from the man himself.