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April 4, 2005
Joel Turnipseed, author of “Baghdad Express: A Gulf War Memoir,” will speak at Morningside College on Thursday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the UPS Auditorium of the Lincoln Center. The free event is sponsored by Morningside’s Academic and Cultural Arts Series (ACAS) and the Sioux City Reading Series. The public is invited.
Turnipseed was a reservist with the United States Marine Corps’ Sixth Motor Transport Battalion when his unit was called up to serve in Operation Desert Shield/Storm during the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War. The book chronicles Turnipseed’s experiences as a Marine and his insightful and wry observations on the horrors and hardships of military life.
USA Today has praised “Baghdad Express” as one “of the best soldiers' memoirs to come out of the 1991 war,” and Publishers Weekly has called the book a “coming-of-age story with all the right ingredients: self-deprecation, wit, insight, irony and a lucid enthusiastic writing style."
 Turnipseed studied philosophy and creative writing at the University of Minnesota. He became a technical writer and software developer and began his own software company, Archemedia, named one of the Twin Cities' hottest web technology companies by Twin Cities Business Monthly in 2001. He sold the company in 2002.
Turnipseed's writing has appeared in Salon.com, Granta, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, and other journals. He is a frequent reviewer of books for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He has been a Bread Loaf Scholar, a Loft Creative Nonfiction award winner, and a recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship.
Turnipseed has been a frequent commentator and guest on both television and radio. He has appeared on “ABC Nightline,” “CNN,” “Fox News,” and “NPR's On Point,” as well as dozens of local television and radio stations. He currently lives in Minneapolis, Minn., where he is at work on both a book-length nonfiction project and a novel.
For more information, contact Dr. Steve Coyne, professor of English at Morningside at (712) 274-5267, or the department of Public Relations at (712) 274-5320.
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Author of “Baghdad Express”
to speak at Morningside College on April 14