Russell Banks

Russell Banks (1940–2023) was an acclaimed American novelist and poet known for his vivid portrayals of working-class lives, domestic strife, and social issues, often drawing from his own impoverished upbringing in New England. Born to a plumber father who abandoned the family when Banks was 12, he dropped out of Colgate University, lived transiently in Florida, and later taught at universities while publishing works like Continental Drift, Affliction, and The Sweet Hereafter, several adapted into films. His writing explored moral themes, personal relationships, and global capitalism across novels, short stories, and poetry spanning five decades.