In the final part of my epic conversation with the American soldier-poet Brian Turner, our attention turned to the question: does writing help confront trauma and the violence he has witnessed and indeed participated in.  ----more----Other subjects include: * 'Sergeant Turner' vs Brian Turner: Poet * the part of Turner and his colleagues that died in Iraq * the rise of ISIS in Iraq * how do you live with the experiences he has had * how do I be happy * love and a reading about his wife from My Life as a Foreign Country * transitioning from war poet to poet * can you leave the war behind? * trying to understand the 'enemy' * the time Turner was almost killed * writing about torture and Turner's complicity with this * can poems change people's attitude to torture, Guantanamo etc * Iraq and the news cycle * art, empathy, sharing and understanding * 'The historians are wrong. We have decades ahead of us, just with Iraq' * why Sweden has taken more Iraqi refugees than US * is Turner a political writer? * 'There could be a lot more troubling of the water' * Turner on the future of Iraq * on returning to Baghdad in 2012

And then, finally, we headed to lunch.