Russell Earl Banks (March 28, 1940 – January 8, 2023) 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". He was the son of Florence (née Taylor), a homemaker, and Earl Banks, a plumber, and was raised in Barnstead, New Hampshire.
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". In Chapel Hill, Banks was involved in Students for a Democratic Society and protest during the Civil Rights Movement. In 1989, he married poet Chase Twichell.
He taught creative writing at Princeton University.
Honors
Banks's works received high recognition through his career. He was the 1985 recipient of the John Dos Passos Prize for fiction. His novels Continental Drift and Cloudsplitter were finalists for the 1986 and 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, respectively.
Banks was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996.
He was a New York State Author for 2004–2006.
Death
Banks died from cancer at his home in Saratoga Springs, New York, on Sunday, January 8, 2023, at the age of 82.
Works and themes
His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous international prizes and awards. He wrote fiction, and, later, non-fiction, with Dreaming up America. His main works include the novels Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplitter, The Sweet Hereafter, and Affliction. The latter two novels were each made into feature films in 1997 (see The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction).
Many of Banks's works reflect his working-class upbringing. His stories often show people facing tragedy and downturns in everyday life, expressing sadness and self-doubt, but also showing resilience and strength in the face of their difficulties. Banks also wrote short stories, some of which appear in the collection The Angel on the Roof, as well as poetry.
Banks also lived in Jamaica. Interviewed in 1998 for The Paris Review, he stated that: