Australian poet Todd Turner comes to Keats House this October for the UK launch of his third collection, Breathwork, appearing alongside acclaimed Scottish poet Niall Campbell for an evening of readings and conversation.
Born and raised in Western Sydney, Turner is both a poet and master goldsmith. He began writing poetry in 2004 after establishing a career in fine jewellery, and has since published three collections: Woodsmoke (2014), Thorn (2020) and Breathwork. His poetry has appeared in publications including Meanjin, Overland, Southword and Poetry London, while his debut collection was shortlisted for both the Dame Mary Gilmore Award and the Anne Elder Award.
Breathwork explores grief, suffering, resilience, love and belonging, with the life and work of John Keats providing a recurring thread through the collection. Turner has spent several years writing poems inspired by Keats, making the launch at the poet’s former Hampstead home an especially fitting setting.
For Sound and Breath, Turner is joined by Niall Campbell, the Outer Hebrides-born poet whose collections include Moontide, Noctuary and The Island in the Sound. Together they will explore landscape, memory and what the organisers describe as the “quiet intersections of our worlds”.
The London event forms part of a wider UK and Ireland reading tour for Turner, with appearances also including Shore Poets in Edinburgh, St Mungo’s Mirrorball, Ó Bhéal go Béal and Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum.