Frederick Turner

Frederick Turner (born 19 November 1943 – 4 September 2025) was an English‑American poet, literary critic, and translator associated with the New Formalism movement. He has published over 25 books, including verse epics The New World, Genesis (1988), and Apocalypse (2016), and critical studies Shakespeare and the Nature of Time and The Culture of Hope. Turner taught at the University of Texas at Dallas from 1985 until his retirement as Founders Professor in 2020. Turner died on 4 September 2025.

Early life and education Born in Northamptonshire, England, Turner is the son of Scottish cultural anthropologist Victor Witter Turner and English anthropologist Edith Turner. His brothers include scientist Robert Turner and anthropologist Rory Turner.

Childhood in Africa In 1952, Turner's family moved to Northern Rhodesia when his father accepted an assignment to study the Eastern Ndembu people. Turner was home-schooled by his parents and read works including Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, C.S. Lewis's Narnia, and Shakespeare. He also heard stories from the Ndembu oral tradition.

The family returned to England in 1955 when Victor Turner accepted a position at the University of Manchester.

Education Turner attended Manchester Grammar School before studying at the University of Oxford from 1962 to 1967, where he obtained a B.A., M.A., and B.Litt. in English Language and Literature. His thesis supervisor was Helen Gardner. His thesis, Shakespeare and the Nature of Time, was later published as a book.

During this period, Turner collaborated with neuroscientist Ernst Pöppel on research into poetic meter and brain function. In 1985, they published The Neural Lyre: Poetic Meter, the Brain, and Time in Poetry magazine.

Writing Turner writes in metrical forms and longer narrative genres, including science fiction poetry.

Epic poetry Turner has published three epic poems: The New World (1985), set in 2376 A.D.; Genesis (1988), about the human colonization of Mars; and Apocalypse (2016), concerning climate change in 2067.

Literary translation Turner co-translated a collection of poems by Miklós Radnóti, a Hungarian Jewish poet killed during the Holocaust, with Zsuzsanna Ozsváth in 1992. He has also translated Chinese poetry from the Tang dynasty.

Personal life Turner married Mei Lin Turner in 1966. They met as undergraduates at Oxford University. He has two sons.

Awards and honours

Milán Füst Prize (Hungary) Levinson Poetry Prize, Poetry magazine (1983) PEN Dallas Chapter Golden Pen Award Missouri Review Editors' Prize David Robert Poetry Prize Gjenima Prize