Turner was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where his father, a fighter pilot, was stationed with the Canadian military. As a military brat, he lived in the Canadian North, the American Midwest, and Germany. He graduated from Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario in 1996 with an honours Bachelor of Arts in History. He also holds a journalism degree from Ryerson University, Toronto. While at Ryerson, he completed an editorial internship at Shift Magazine. Following graduation from Ryerson, Turner reported on culture and technology for Shift Magazine from 1998 to 2003. His writing has also appeared in, The Walrus, The New Yorker, The Globe and Mail, The Independent,The Sunday Times,Time Magazine,The Guardian,Utne Reader,Adbusters and The South China Morning Post. His latest work is How To Breathe Underwater, a collection of his award-winning magazine writing from the last 15 years. He is currently working on a new book for Simon & Schuster with a working title of The Patch, which will be an analysis of the importance and history of the oilsands. Turner was the recipient of a Fleck Fellowship at the Banff Centre in 2010. In 2009 he co-founded CivicCamp in Calgary. He was featured speaker for the Deakin Innovation Lectures in Melbourne, Australia in 2008. He has given keynote addresses or lectures at thirteen university campuses, four literary festivals and approximately thirty major professional and industrial conferences nationwide. In 2013 Turner was the writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon. Turner lives in Calgary, Alberta, with his wife, the photographer Ashley Bristowe, and two children.
Literary career
Turner's works include the bestselling Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation, published in 2004, and Geography of Hope: A Guided Tour of the World We Need, which was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award and the National Business Book Award and was listed on the Globe and Mails 2007 "Globe 100" list of the best books of the year. Turner's magazine writing has earned him nine Canadian National Magazine Awards, including the 2001 President's Medal for General Excellence. Turner spent the winter of 2013 as the Writer in Residence at Berton House in Dawson City.
Books
Books written by Turner include the following:
‘’The Patch: The People, Pipelinea and Politics of the Oilsands’’
The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need
Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation
Awards
The Leap was a finalist for the 2012 National Business Book Award and longlisted for the BC National Award for Canadian Nonfiction. The Geography of Hope was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction, the National Business Book Award and the Alberta Literary Award for Nonfiction. Turner has received seven Canadian National Magazine Awards for his work in Shift, The Walrus and Alberta Views. His essay "Why Technology Is Failing Us," won the 2001 President's Medal for General Excellence, the highest honour in Canadian magazine writing.
