Russell Banks

An uncompromising perspective on the American myth

While they belong to the tradition of the great American novel, Russell Banks’s books shatter the myth of all-powerful, white America. Translated into twenty languages, his work has won many international awards.

A major literary voice, Russell Banks is also one of the most engaged: the founder of Cities of Refuge North America, he succeeded Wole Soyinka and Salman Rushdie as the president of the International Parliament of Writers, which works to defend persecuted writers.

A tireless traveller and hardened observer, he is also a member of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters.

A formidable storyteller

Over a career spanning more than 40 years, he has written, among others, Continental Drift (1985), Rule of the Bone (1995), The Darling (2004), Lost Memory of Skin (2011), the story collection A Permanent Member of the Family (2013) and the non-fiction Voyager (2016), which is also a genuine book of life in which he invites his readers to join him on his most memorable journeys.

Three of his works have been adapted for the cinema: The Sweet Hereafter (by Atom Egoyan – Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes in 1997), Trailerpark and Affliction (directed in 1997 by Paul Schrader).

This meeting will be moderated by Florence Noiville, an author and journalist with Le Monde. She had participated in the Passa Porta Seminar on the theme of ‘the reader’ in March 2018, in preparation of the festival.

Passa Porta, La Bellone

Photo Russel Banks © Cyrille Choupas