An apparatus and method turn electronic book (e-book) pages in a portable terminal. The method determines whether a touch is input outside of a predetermined User Interface (UI) activation region of a screen of the portable terminal. The method determines whether a drag and release is input in a direction towards the predetermined UI activation region in response to detecting the touch. The method displays one of a preceding page and a next page on the screen in response to determining that the touch is outside of the predetermined UI activation region and that the drag and release is input in the direction towards the predetermined UI activation region.