Turnbull was born in Edinburgh and grew up in Northern England and in Canada, where he moved with his parents at the beginning of World War II. He studied Natural Sciences at Christ's College, Cambridge, and graduated in Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1951. As a doctor and anesthetist, he worked in Ontario; London, England; Ventura, California; Worcester; and Barrow-in-Furness. His poetry first appeared in a book in Canada in 1954. Trio, an anthology of poems by Eli Mandel, Gael Turnbull, and Phyllis Webb published by Raymond Souster's Contact Press. His poems also appeared in Origin, Cid Corman's magazine. In 1957, Turnbull started Migrant Press, one of the first British-run presses to focus on poets in the modernisttradition. His work was featured in the groundbreaking Revival anthology '. His own books include A Gathering of Poems 1950-1980 and Rattle of Scree: Poems. He was also published in the anthologies The New British Poetry, ' and Anthology of Twentieth-Century British and Irish Poetry. He returned to Edinburgh after he retired from medical practice in 1989. In this city, he worked on what he termed kinetic poems; texts for installation in which the movement of the reader and/or of the text became part of the reading experience. He died on a visit to Herefordshire of a sudden brain hemorrhage. In 2006, Turnbull's collected poems, There Are Words, were published by Shearsman Books.
Selected bibliography
Trio: First Poems by Gael Turnbull, Phyllis Webb, and Eli Mandel, with Phyllis Webb and Eli Mandel. Toronto: Contact Press.
Circus, edited by Pamela Scott. Limited signed ed edition. IBN 0951085409
From the Language of the Heart: Some Imitations from the Gaelic of Sine Reisideach. Gnomon Distribution, 1985.
While Breath Persist. 160 pages. Porcupine's Quill.
To the Tune of Annie Laurie: Poems. 16 pages. Akros Publications.
Helen Macdonald/Gael Turnbull/Nicholas Johnson by Helen Macdonald, Gael Turnbull and Nicholas Johnson. 118 pages. Etruscan Books.
Rattle of Scree: Poems. 20 pages. Akros Publications.
Transmutations. 23 pages. Shoestring Press.
A Perception of Ferns, illustrated by Raine Clarke. 16 pages. Essence Press.
The Storey's Story: Memories, Stories, Poems, Images, with Rodge Glass and Jacob Polley, edited by Rodge Glass. Lancaster Litfest Publications.
There Are Words: Collected Poems. 496 pages. Shearsman Books
More Words: Gael Turnbull on Poets & Poetry. 204 pages. Edited by Jill Turnbull and Hamish White. Shearsman Books. Reviews, essays, memoirs and journal pieces. Introduction by Jill Turnbull.
