Mike Turner

1. Author Introduction: Tell us about yourself. 

I grew up in the Detroit suburbs; and, after graduating from Michigan State University, had a 27-career in Federal law enforcement - a job where I investigated international crimes like drug and human smuggling, money laundering and weapons trafficking in such diverse locations as Detroit, Washington, DC and Southern California. It was a “just the facts” type of career, and I didn’t do any type of creative writing - what writing I did have published was technical, job-related.

I retired in 2007 to coastal Alabama, where my wife, Pamela Caudill, and I planned a life of travel, boating and reading. But after a few years I got a little bored, and took an adult end class in beginner’s ukulele. The class really jump-started me creatively; by the third lesson, I had written my first song, and, as its lyrics say, from that point, the songs came out, “like the flood from a busted dam.”

To date, I’ve written over 250 songs, with radio airplay and Internet streaming in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Australia and on U.S. Armed Forces Radio. I was named Male Gospel Entertainer of the Year by both the Alabama Music Association (2016) and the North America Country Music Associations International (2017), and in 2018 had a regional hit with my country song, “Another Lonely Night” on Lake of the Ozarks Radio. In 2020 I helped found an independent record label, Music for World Peace Records that specializes in original songs that advocate world peace and oppose war. I initially served as the label’s CEO and functioned in A&R (Artists and Repertoire), helping to find recording artists and match them to songs to record. I stepped away from active management of the label in 2023, but continue as a sponsor, songwriter and recording artist - in its five years of operations so far, the label has released over 70 tracks on more than 20 artists in the U.S., Canada, U.K., the Netherlands, the Philippines, South Africa and Cameroon.

Somewhere around 2019, I found I was writing works that didn’t lend themselves to some of songwriting’s conventions - things like rhyming, verse/chorus structure and repetition, so I branched out into poetry. Initially I only shared my poems with friends, but they encouraged me to submit them for publication. To date I’ve had over 400 poems published in over 75 literary journals and anthologies, and won a few poetry awards along the way.

In 2024 I was invited to join the Alabama Writers’ Cooperative, which is one of the oldest writers’ organizations in the United States. I currently serve on the AWC Board of Directors and edit its quarterly newsletter.

As 2025 begins, I’m finishing up some song projects and starting some new recording; and I’m constantly writing new songs and poems, and submitting poems for publication. We’ll see what’s next as the year unfolds!

2. What is your bestselling book title or piece of artwork? 

My poetry collection, Visions and Memories, was published by Sweetycat Press in 2021.

3. Have you won any awards, certificates, honors, stickers, or recognitions for your books or artwork pieces?

I’ve been fortunate to win several awards for my songs and poems:

I was named Male Gospel Entertainer of the Year by both the Alabama Music Association (2016) and the North America Country Music Associations International (2017).

My original folk gospel song, "He Died for Me," won second place in the Spring 2017 Worship Team Training, Worship Songwriting Contest.

In 2019, I was asked to produce a multi-artist, special musical program, “200 Years of Alabama Music,” as a part of official bi-centennial celebrations of the Alabama’s statehood. I ultimately served as MC, stage director and closing performer in the program.

My poem “Flash of Blue” was awarded First Place in the Spring 2020 Poetry Contest by The Academy of the Heart and Mind.

I was one of ten writers selected to present our works on the “15 Minutes of Fame Stage” at the 2020 Monroeville Literary Festival - I performed a selection of my original songs about life along the Gulf Coast.

I was named “Poet of the Week” by the University of South Alabama Libraries in 2021, with a week-long exhibition of selected poems at their gallery in Mobile, Alabama.

My song lyric, “Sense of Peace,” was awarded the 2023 Roger Williams Peace Prize for Writing, by the Alabama Writers’ Cooperative.

4. When you’re not writing or producing artwork, what are your hobbies?

My wife, Pamela, and I enjoy traveling - we’ve traveled extensively in the U.S., and been to the U.K., France and Italy several times: we have a return visit to Europe planned for Spring 2025. We are avid boaters - we own a 32’ motor trawler - and we enjoy exploring the waters of the northern U.S. Gulf Coast, from the Florida Panhandle across Alabama and into Mississippi. We enjoy bicycle riding along paved trails, particularly those converted from old railroad lines. And I’m a voracious reader, mostly history, biography and time travel fiction.

5. Introduce special events, projects, upcoming book releases, for your special projects pertaining writing and art you want viewers to know about. 

I’ll be the Master of Ceremonies in the Literary Arts Tent at the upcoming 2025 Festival of Arts, March 8-9, 2025 in Orange Beach, Alabama (USA), where I’ll read some of my poems and introduce guest speakers to read from their works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry (I also served on a committee to curate the selected speakers).

I’m in the planning stages with my local public library, to produce and present a multi-artist musical program later this year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Grand Old Opry.

I have a number of poems placed with various on-line and print journals and anthologies pending publication in the next few weeks, and am continuously submitting additional poems for publication - the best place to follow my latest publications is my Facebook writer’s page (see link below).

6. Share your special links to your books, websites, pages, and blogs so viewers can find you. 

My poetry collection, Visions and Memories, is available in paperback and e-book versions on Amazon, at https://a.co/d/3Ak6nKn

Readers can follow my latest poetry publications, with links to journals and anthologies carrying my poems, at my Facebook writer’s page at www.facebook.com/MikeTurnerSongwriter 

My original songs are posted at my website, www.MikeTurnerSongwriter.com , and my YouTube channel, www.YouTube.com/MikeTurnerSongwriter

I’m on X @SchoonerSkipper and Instagram @MikeTurnerSongwriter

Bio: Mike Turner retired to the US Gulf Coast after a 27-year career as a law enforcement executive, and took up songwriting and poetry. He has had more than 400 poems published in over 75 journals and anthologies; his original songs have received airplay in the US, UK and Europe. Mike’s poetry collection, Visions and Memories, was published by Sweetycat Press in 2021. When not writing, Mike and his wife, Pamela Caudill, explore the Gulf’s bayous and backwaters aboard their classic recreational trawler, and enjoy bicycling and trav