James K. Turner is a storyteller, traveler, historian, and author. The 2017 winner of the Janice Keck Literary Award for non-fiction, he is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, a seventh-generation Tennessean, and an Atlanta Braves fan. He enjoys all literature, believes that Welty, Poe, and Chaucer are equally worthy, and suspects that they would enjoy a conversation over sweet tea and cornbread.

James is a board member (past and present) of historical organizations and properties. Those include the Carter House Association in Franklin, Tennessee; the Sam Davis (Home) Memorial Association in Smyrna, Tennessee; and as one of the original partners in the acquisition of the historic Gaines House in Gainesboro, Tennessee. He is currently conserving the Granville Mercantile, an expansive 1923 brick building in his hometown. The mercantile building, vacant for decades, has served as a store, a funeral home, and a pool hall. Soon it will be a vacation rental, another reincarnation from its original purpose. It will still include a pool table, darts, and a pinball machine - a nod to its glory days. (www.facebook.com/GranvilleMercantile)

A reenactor in an artillery battery for 20 years, James still enjoys portraying historic characters during living histories and ghost walks. He loves to travel to Europe to visit historic battlefields, when time and money are in agreement. In his spare time he enjoys working on his family's cattle farm. He resides in Franklin, Tennessee with his two children, Ella and Caldwell, who will gladly visit any art exhibit in exchange for milk shakes at Elliston Place Soda Shop.