Russell banks biography

American writer of fiction and poetry (–)

For the British actor and screenwriter, see Russell Geoffrey Banks.

Russell Earl Banks (March 28, – January 8, ) was an American writer of fiction and poetry. His novels are known for "detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters". He drew from his own childhood in the working class, but also from the larger world, such as his years in Jamaica. His novels often reflect "moral themes and personal relationships".

Banks was a member of the International Parliament of Writers and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Life and career

Russell Earl Banks was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on March 28, , and grew up "in relative poverty." He was the son of Florence (née Taylor), a homemaker, and Earl Banks, a plumber, and was raised in Barnstead, New Hampshire. His father deserted the family when Banks was aged 12, making their survival even more difficult.

Awarded a scholarship to attend Colgate University, Banks dropped out six weeks into university and traveled south instead, with the "intention of joining Fidel Castro's insurgent army in Cuba, but wound up working in a department store in Lakeland, Florida".

He ma

Cloudsplitter

by Russell Banks

Published by HarperCollins

Continental Drift

by Russell Banks

Published by Perennial

Rule of the Bone

by Russell Banks

Published by HarperCollins

Russell Banks's literary -- and now filmic -- output is extraordinary. With razor-sharp prose often both harsh and elegant, he has presented a painful, fascinating body of work. Affliction (and its movie version, directed by Paul Shrader and starring Nick Nolte) offered up a portrait of the tormented, abusive Wade Whithouse. The Sweet Hereafter -- which has also been given the film treatment -- concerned the nightmare of nightmares: a school-bus accident and the death of children. Bone, the teen protagonist of Rule of the Bone, ushered in the harsh, gritty subculture of the teenage runaway. Continental Drift twins two tales, that of the self-destructive Bob Dubois and the tale of a young Haitian mother -- both searching, in separate ways, for refuge and a better life. And Cloudsplitter chronicles the terrible, legendary figure of abolitionist John Brown.

And, as I discovered, there are still more film versions of Russell Banks novels in the works: Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplitter, andTrailerpark are all headed for the big screen.

Russell Banks was born in New Hampshire in , leading a life -- as a teenage reprobate, plumber, gas-pumper, and yo