Gary Turk is an award-winning poet, storyteller and filmmaker.
Gary became an Internet sensation following the global success of ‘Look Up’. The video which has attracted over 600 million views worldwide, is a five minute spoken word poetry performance mixed with a filmed narrative which looks at how the overuse of smartphones and social media can disengage us from real experiences, human interactions and living in the real world.
Gary’s work has gone on to inspire masses across the globe gaining worldwide coverage including BBC News, Fox News, TIME and more. Gary himself has appeared on BBC Breakfast, The One Show, Good Morning Britain, Sunrise (Australia), and The Today Show (USA), among many others.
‘Look Up’ is the most viewed Spoken Word film on the Internet, and went on to win Best Viral Film at Cannes Media & TV Awards. It was nominated in the Webby Awards (The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences), and went on to win two awards for Best Viral Film and Best Individual Performance. Gary was awarded ‘Global Thought Shaper of the Year’ in 2014 by the United Nations WTO for his work encouraging people to better appreciate the world around them.
Gary currently has over 63 million views and 120,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel, plus an additional 32,000 followers and 5 million views on his social media platforms, even though he is offline much more than he is online. Gary continues to write and make films for his YouTube following, as well as making original content for established brands. Gary most recently partnered with RAC in Australia to star in a TV road safety campaign to stop people texting and driving.
Gary has performed his spoken word live to over 100,000 people on 5 continents, and can regularly be found giving talks, workshops & performances at schools, universities, and corporate events all around the world.
Gary recently gave a TEDx Talk about his experience growing up in a retirement home, and what it taught him about appreciating life, accepting death, and learning from an older and often wiser generation.
Watch Gary’s TED Talk here here.
If you would like to book Gary for an event, or have any business enquiries, please use the contact form here.
‘Powerful Stuff… Turk’s prose contains lines to live by’ – Fox News
‘Taking the Internet by storm’ – TIME
‘Excellent, brilliant, factual and emotional’ – The Independent
‘A global sensation’ – BBC World News
‘A phenomenon’ – NBC’s Today Show
‘Magnificent’ – Derren Brown
‘A profound, emotional masterpiece’ – TEDx
