When the American Library Association (ALA) hosts its annual conferences this weekend from June 26 to 30 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Chestnut Hill author and screenwriter Tom Turner will be there to sign books and chat with conferencegoers. The ALA will meet in an exhibit hall where hundreds of writers, illustrators, and publishers hope to catch the eye of librarians from around the world.
The four-day conference returns to Philadelphia for the first time since 1982. Conference organizers expect more than 10,000 people to attend the conference, which aims to “bring together thousands of library professionals and friends of libraries to exchange innovative ideas” about books, programming, and the future of libraries, and turn them into action, according to the conference website.
Turner is the author of “Sign of the Sandman,” a Foreword INDIES finalist in Juvenile Fiction. The novel, published in 2014, follows a 10-year-old boy and his best friend’s travels in a magical world where reality, dreams, and nightmares converge.
“Librarians are rock stars”
At the conference, in booth 144, Turner will showcase “Sign of the Sandman,” the first few chapters he’s written of book two in the soon-to-be series, and “Sign of the Sandman: Seance,” a 2023 novelette about the characters’ adventures during one unforgettable Halloween.
“We will be there all four days giving away books to librarians and signing,” Turner told the Local. “It's great that it's in Philly. To be in my hometown and be able to meet librarians and book lovers from all over the country is a godsend.”
He added, “In my opinion, librarians are rock stars. I believe stories can change lives, ignite passion in kids. To me, this is the equivalent of Comic-Con [a popular fan convention celebrating comic books and comic book culture]."
Turner also won the Best Screenplay Award in 2010 for “Sweet Jane,”an entry in the Greater Philadelphia Film Office’s “Set in Philadelphia” competition. He has also appeared at The Stagecrafters Theater’s Annual Halloween Scary Stories event, featuring songs, poems, and tales about the holiday.
The idea for “Sandman” came to Turner over 25 years ago. “It was simply the notion of a young boy who gets caught up in the Sandman’s net and travels the night with him through dreams,” he told the Local in 2019. “The idea remained in my notebook, but as always happens, the best ideas stick with you, constantly begging to be told. … So I wrote it as a book. And here we are. I did, however, adapt it for the screen … so we’re good to go when the time comes!”
Pushing forward while returning home
Turner grew up in Lawncrest, attended the now-closed Cardinal Dougherty High School, and graduated from Temple University, where he studied theater, in 1993. Turner got a job at a company called Wheelhouse Entertainment and eventually his script “Sweet Jane” got into the hands of Randall Wallace, writer of the Oscar-winning “Braveheart.” Wallace was impressed, Turner said.
“The story idea that Wallace and his team were most excited about eventually became ‘Sandman,’” Turner said. “I also kept writing and developing other ideas on my own over the years, including a thriller, a romantic comedy, a ghost story and a swashbuckling action adventure.” Despite repeated pitches to studios, the scripts were never produced and that rejection was a constant frustration.
“You work so hard on something only to have it stall because of something completely out of your control. Sometimes those old scripts find new lives and new champions. The main thing is to keep pushing forward, no matter how many rejections you get,” Turner said.
Turner has worked for The Walt Disney Company, where he was a creative assistant for Playhouse Disney, a programming division aimed at children ages 2 to 7. He is also currently writing "Mad Scientists' Club 2.0," a reboot of the popular "Mad Scientists’ Club” children's books written by Bertrand R. Brinley (1917-1994), which were made into a Wonderful World of Disney television feature shortly after Walt Disney's death. Turner has also written eight episodes of a TV series, “Dream Guardians,” loosely based on his "Sign of the Sandman" characters, which is currently in pre-production.
Meanwhile, he’s happy to be working from his home base in Chestnut Hill.
“When I had moved back to Philly from New York, I would sometimes come up to Chestnut Hill to work and fell in love with it,” said Turner. “So I moved here. Besides its storybook charm, I’m an avid cyclist and love its proximity to some great rides, not to mention the Wissahickon and Schuylkill River Trails. I can still walk to cafes, restaurants and bars, and if I want to head into town, there are convenient train stations.”
For more information, visit readtomturner.com. Turner's Instagram author handle is @readTomTurner. Len Lear can be reached at LenLear@chestnuthilllocal.com.
