Tom Turner

Tom Turner’s love of storytelling began in 1980s Philadelphia, where he staged basement skits, built haunted houses, turned wooded trails into imaginary worlds, and even filmed a homemade epic on an old VHS camera, Ninja 4: Warriors of the Night. A preview of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat during a visit to Cardinal Dougherty High School sparked his passion for the theater, leading him to study at Temple University, where he pursued lighting design and went on to work across the city and beyond, telling stories with color and light.

After college, Turner set his sights on film. Though rejected from top film programs, he directed the short film Playground and moved to Los Angeles to pursue directing. While working on the Richard Gere film Red Corner, he wrote his first screenplay, Sweet Jane, which won Best Screenplay from the Greater Philadelphia Film Office and caught the attention of producers Stephen Zapotoczny and Danielle Lemmon. The script reached writer/director Randall Wallace, who invited Turner to develop projects with his company.

Turner later pitched the idea that became his debut novel, Sign of the Sandman. After a decade of revisions, the novel was published, earning praise from young readers and reviewers alike. It was a Foreword Reviews Book of the Year finalist, and Booklist called it “all adventure, all the time—something middle-grade readers will love.” Turner continues to work in the Sign of the Sandman universe, adapting the story for the screen and writing follow-up adventures, reflecting his lifelong mission to spark imagination and instill a love of adventure in young readers. In his spare time, he is working on his adult fiction debut, a globe-trotting adventure tale in the spirit of Indiana Jones and Treasure Island.

You can find Tom on Instagram: @ReadTomTurner