Those who encounter Turnbull’s work for the first time in Avanti! will enjoy the author’s sharp eye and ear, his feel for the grotesque, his uproarious humour; while initiates will be dazzled by the range—of form, theme, tone and emotion—displayed throughout. In the rollercoaster title sequence, poems often inhabit familiar Turnbull territory—youth lived at the edge of violence, adult lives blighted by human and political folly—though formal aspects such as line, syntax and diction have been manipulated to achieve a startling shift of expressive mode. A deeper engagement with place and landscape, with domestic intimacy and tenderness, is evident, and while mystery and mortality haunt the pages of Avanti!, a sense of renewal finally emerges.

 

About ‘The Camden Art Redemption Miracle’:

 

‘Tim Turnbull’s pitch-perfect fable in terza rima … is an accomplished exploration of the angle at which art stands to what it is made from.’

 

—Andrew McCullough, TLS

 

About Caligula on Ice:

 

‘Turnbull is eminently accessible. He does bold rhymes, caustic commentary and mucky jokes, all in an affable deadpan. Comparisons to Tony Harrison are understandable but specifically, this is Harrison translating Martial, seamlessly transposed to Daily Mail Britain. Whether it’s kids, suicides or office managers running amok, Turnbull has a smart rhyme and a punchline for it, and though he’s particularly adroit when it comes to epigrams, he can also maintain his wit for pages at a time.’    

 

—Jon Stone, Dr Fulminare
 

Please contact us.