Mensajes Desde Colombia: Messages from Colombia
In August 2018, I returned to the United States with more than one hundred messages from Presbyterian churches of the Urabá region, located in the northwest of Colombia. In Mensajes Desde Colombia: Messages from Colombia, I share some of those messages and my own journals about being a peace accompanier. This is a bilingual text in English and Spanish.
Regresé a los EE. UU. en agosto de 2018 con más de cien mensajes escritos por miembros de las iglesias presbiterianas de la región de Urabá en el noroeste de Colombia. En Mensajes Desde Colombia: Messages from Colombia, les comparto algunos de ellos y mis propias crónicas de la experiencia de ser un acompañante para la paz. Es un texto bilingüe en ingles y español.

The Global Game: Writers on Soccer
Published in 2008 by University of Nebraska Press, The Global Game: Writers on Soccer includes more than fifty contributions – most in translation – about the world’s most popular sport. I edited the book with Thom Satterlee and Alon Raab.
Praise
David Goldblatt, Times Literary Supplement:
The first truly global survey of writing on the global game. … The collection gives a powerful reminder to Anglo-Saxon literary cultures that football – the most global cultural phenomenon of all – has a rich, multivocal literary tradition.
Bill Littlefield, Only a Game (National Public Radio):
I admit a bias. I’m a soccer fan. If you are, too, this is the book for you. And if you aren’t, and you give The Global Game a chance, the light may yet shine upon you.
Marc Jolley, The Sport Literature Association:
It is worth every minute of your time to read this collection. You will never see, or experience football (soccer) the same way again.
Library Journal:
As much social commentary as a compendium of soccer tales and soccer reflections, this delightful collection is essential reading for the soccer fan and those interested in soccer and sport generally in a global environment. … Bringing a variety of writings together in one volume is a credit to the editors, who provide an excellent introduction for each entry.
Russell Eisenman, MultiCultural Review:
Those who like or study soccer, and would like to read different perspectives about it, will find much to savor.
From locations that span the stadiums of Burma and Iran to the northern lights over Greenland to the remotest areas of Sierra Leone, the writers celebrate the players, fans, rituals, and politics of the world’s most popular sport.
Gabe Logan, Journal of Sport History:
This anthology’s successful use of essays, memoirs, and poetry demonstrates the varied language of soccer.
Interviews
As an authority on world soccer culture I have been interviewed, for print and broadcast, by various media outlets. Below is a selected list:
- “John Turnbull on Soccer as a Second Language.” Five Books, December 17, 2010.
- “The People’s Game: Radio Show for June 15, 2010.” The People’s Game, KPFK 90.7 FM (Pacifica Radio, Los Angeles), June 15, 2010.
- “Soccer Is a Global Game.” Interview with Hannah Sung, CBC Book Club, June 14, 2010.
- “John Turnbull Interview: EPL Talk Podcast.” EPL Talk, March 30, 2010.
- “The Soccer War.” Soccer Politics, 2009.
- “Saturday, February 7th, 2009.” Interview with Bill Littlefield, Only a Game (NPR), February 7, 2009.