'An ancient and honorable act'

 

“Storytelling is an ancient and honorable act. An essential role to play in the community or tribe. It's one that I embrace wholeheartedly and have been fortunate enough to be rewarded for.” –  Russell Banks

 

Born in Massachusetts on this date in 1940, Banks wrote 20 books of fiction and poetry.  He was best known for his accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary, often-marginalized characters, frequently drawing from his own childhood experiences growing up in poverty.

 

Winner of the John Dos Passos Award for Creative Writing, he also earned numerous international awards and had his work translated into 20 different languages.  Two of his books – The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction – not only became international best-sellers but were made into successful feature films.

 

A member of the International Parliament of Writers and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he wrote right up until his death early in 2023, publishing a novel The Magic Kingdom in 2022.  A posthumous collection of his short stories, American Spirits, was published in 2024.

Also a winner of the prestigious Andrew Carnegie Award for Excellence in Fiction, Banks noted, “There are people like me who want to be writers simply because they love to write.  My life has been shaped by my writing,”