John-James Turner

John-James Turner was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1965. He first started writing song lyrics at the age of 16. When he realised he wasn't going to be part of the next Beatles, he moved into writing poetry when he was 21. He had his first poem published in 1991 and has had several poems published in anthologies over the ensuing years. In late 1991, he performed poetry for the first time to an audience and has subsequently performed poetry all over the United Kingdom. His poetry is often amusing, acerbic and focused on social commentary with the odd smattering of self reflection and love poetry for good measure. In 1993 he performed stand up comedy for the first time at the Oxford Comedy Cellar and spent the next two years performing at various venues culminating in an open mike spot at London's Comedy Store which was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. He gave up a life of laughter to settle down into a proper job and become a family man. Over the past 24 years he has performed his poetry sporadically in between the occasional bout of depression. The writing bug has never left him and his first novel "And Then I Woke Up" was finally published on Kindle on 29th August 2019. His first novel, a science fiction adventure with a smattering of comedy is by no means a descriptor of his writing style and he intends to write in a variety of genres over the next few years. His own reading preferences have recently been leaning towards thrillers but he is a big fan of Robert B Parker, Jack Higgins, James Herbert, Bernard MacLaverty, Norman Mailer, Richard Bach and Oscar Wilde. His favourite novel of all time is The Great Gatsby. His biggest passion however is music and he spends way too much time listening to good music instead of hunkering down and writing (his wife thinks the term 'good music' is stretching the truth).