MONTEVALLO—The University of Montevallo will welcome soldier-poet Brian Turner to the J.A. Brown Room in Carmichael Library on the UM campus Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 3:30 p.m., to read from his works as part of the 2014-2015 BACHE Visiting Writers’ Series.
Turner, who holds an MFA from the University of Oregon, is the author of two poetry collections, Phantom Noise (2010) and Here, Bullet (2005), which won the New York Times Editor’s Choice selection and the Poets Prize, among others. He served seven years in the U.S. Army including deployment to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq. His memoir, My Life as a Foreign Country, retraces his war experiences. Turner’s poetry has been published in Poetry Daily, The Georgia Review, and other journals as well as in the Voices in Wartime Anthology, which also generated a feature-length documentary film of the same name. He also was featured in Operation Homecoming, a documentary that explores firsthand accounts of American servicemen and women. In 2009, Turner was selected as one of fifty United States Artists Fellows.
After the reading, there will be a question and answer session with the audience as well as a reception and book signing.
The Birmingham Consortium for Higher Education (BACHE) is a partnership among the five four-year colleges and universities in the greater Birmingham area. Created by the presidents in 1996 to advance academic excellence through collaborative activities and shared resources, BACHE enhances educational opportunities for students and provides services and support to faculty, staff and the community. Member institutions include Birmingham-Southern College, Miles College, Samford University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Montevallo.
The BACHE Visiting Writers Series is designed to bring writers of national and regional significance to north central Alabama by sponsoring readings open to the entire community. The series is funded by grants from the five BACHE institutions, the Alabama State Council on the Arts and other donors.
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