View source for Russell Banks

{{Short description|American writer of fiction and poetry (1940–2023)}}
{{about||the British actor and screenwriter|Russell Geoffrey Banks}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox writer
| image        = Russell banks 2011.jpg
| name         = Russell Banks
| caption      = Banks in 2011
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1940|3|28|mf=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Newton, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date   = {{death date and age|2023|1|8|1940|3|28}}
| death_place  = [[Saratoga Springs, New York]], U.S.
| education    = [[Colgate University]]<br>[[University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| occupation   = Writer
| spouse       = {{ubl|{{marriage|Darlene Bennett||end = divorced}}|{{marriage|Mary Gunst|1963|1977|end = divorced}}|{{marriage|Kathy Walton|1982|1988|end = divorced}}|{{marriage|[[Chase Twichell]]|1989}}}}
| children     = 4
| notableworks = ''Continental Drift'', ''Affliction'', ''Rule of the Bone'', ''Cloudsplitter'', ''The Darling'', ''The Sweet Hereafter''
| website      = {{url|https://www.russellbanks.com}}
| module       = {{listen|embed = yes |filename = Bookbits - 2011-11-08 Russell Banks-Lost Memory of Skin.vorb.oga|type = speech|title = Banks's voice|description = Banks talks about ''Lost Memory of Skin'' on Bookbits radio in 2011}}
}}
'''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".<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Russell Banks – Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52047/Russell-Banks/52047rellinks/Related-Links|encyclopedia=Student Encyclopedia|access-date=October 19, 2011|archive-date=May 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510183908/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52047/Russell-Banks/52047rellinks/Related-Links|url-status=live}}</ref> 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".<ref name="britannica.com"/>

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, 1940, and grew up "in relative poverty."<ref name=Indy/><ref name = Chace>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/books/russell-banks-dead.html|title = Russell Banks, Novelist Steeped in the Working Class, Dies at 82|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|date = January 8, 2023|access-date = January 8, 2023|last = Chace|first = Rebecca|url-access = limited}}</ref> He was the son of Florence (née Taylor), a homemaker, and Earl Banks, a plumber, and was raised in [[Barnstead, New Hampshire]].<ref name = Chace/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUNaAAAAMAAJ&q=Florence+Taylor+Banks|title=Russell Banks|isbn=9780805740189|last1=Niemi|first1=Robert|year=1997|publisher=Twayne Publishers }}</ref><ref name="Paris" /> His father deserted the family when Banks was aged 12, making their survival even more difficult.<ref name="Paris">{{cite journal|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1104/the-art-of-fiction-no-152-russell-banks|title=Russell Banks, The Art of Fiction No. 152|first=Robert|last=Faggen|journal=[[The Paris Review]]|issue=147|date=Summer 1998 |volume=Summer 1998 |access-date=July 10, 2023|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426043202/https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1104/the-art-of-fiction-no-152-russell-banks|url-status=live}}</ref> 

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]]".<ref name=Paris/> 

He married Darlene Bennett, who was working as a sales clerk at the time. They had one daughter and later divorced.<ref name = Chace/>

According to an interview with ''[[The Independent]]'', he started to write when he was living in Miami in the late 1950s.<ref name=Indy/> In a separate interview with ''[[The Paris Review]]'', he said the writing came after his return to [[New England]] in 1964 and settling in Boston. He married Mary Gunst. They had three daughters together before getting divorced in 1977.

Supportive of his writing, the Gunst family paid for him to attend the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] during their early marriage; he graduated in 1967.<ref name=Paris/><ref name=People>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20115930,00.html|title=Russell Banks's Tale of Family Violence Hits Close to Home|magazine=People|first=Kim|last=Hubbard|date=November 13, 1989|volume=32|issue=20|access-date=June 15, 2013|archive-date=December 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227054225/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20115930,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.unc.edu/faculty/faccoun/honorary/DAA/DAAroster.shtml|title= Distinguished Alumna and Alumnus Award Recipients|access-date= October 12, 2009|archive-date= May 28, 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100528023625/http://www.unc.edu/faculty/faccoun/honorary/DAA/DAAroster.shtml|url-status= live}}</ref> In Chapel Hill, Banks was involved in [[Students for a Democratic Society]] and protest during the [[Civil Rights Movement]].<ref name=Indy/> 

In 1976, he was awarded a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/717-russell-banks|title=Russell Banks|publisher=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|access-date=June 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603175440/http://www.gf.org/fellows/717-russell-banks|archive-date=June 3, 2013|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name = Chace/> 

Several years after his divorce, Banks married Kathy Walton, an editor at [[Harper (publisher)|Harper & Row]], in 1982. They divorced in 1988.<ref name = Chace/><ref name=People/> In the early 1980s, he started spending most of the year in [[Keene, New York]], a town in the [[Adirondack Park|Adirondacks]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-01-08 |title=Russell Banks, Novelist Steeped in the Working Class, Dies at 82 (Published 2023) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/books/russell-banks-dead.html |access-date=2025-09-16 |language=en}}</ref> In 1989, he married poet [[Chase Twichell]].<ref name=Indy/><ref name = Chace/> They were married until his death in 2023, often residing in a second home in [[Miami]].<ref name="Harpers">{{cite magazine|url=http://harpers.org/blog/2012/12/a-conversation-with-russell-banks/|title=A Conversation With Russell Banks|first=Jesse|last=Barron|magazine=Harper's Magazine|date=December 12, 2012|access-date=June 15, 2013|archive-date=May 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522083101/http://harpers.org/blog/2012/12/a-conversation-with-russell-banks/|url-status=live}}</ref>

He taught creative writing at [[Princeton University]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.politicalaffairs.net/writing-class-an-interview-with-russell-banks/|title=Writing Class: An Interview with Russell Banks|work=Political Affairs|first=Joel|last=Wendland|date=January 21, 2004|access-date=June 15, 2013|archive-date=July 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130710095329/http://www.politicalaffairs.net/writing-class-an-interview-with-russell-banks/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Saxon/> He was also Artist-in-Residence at the [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]].<ref name="Indy">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/russell-banks-class-warrior-in-a-club-tie-823317.html|title=Russell Banks: Class warrior in a club tie|first=John|last=Freeman|work=The Independent|date=May 9, 2008|access-date=June 15, 2013|archive-date=January 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122185017/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/russell-banks-class-warrior-in-a-club-tie-823317.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Honors==
Banks's works received high recognition through his career. He was the 1985 recipient of the [[John Dos Passos Prize]] for fiction.<ref name="1985DosPassosPrize">{{cite web |title=Past Recipients and Select Works |url=http://www.longwood.edu/english/dos-passos-prize/past-recipients-and-select-works/ |website=The John Dos Passos Prize for Literature |publisher=[[Longwood University]], www.longwood.edu |access-date=15 January 2023 |language=en}}</ref> His novels ''[[Continental Drift (novel)|Continental Drift]]'' and ''[[Cloudsplitter]]'' were finalists for the 1986 and 1999 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]], respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/1986|title=1986 Finalists|publisher=The Pulitzer Prizes|access-date=June 15, 2013|archive-date=December 20, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121220225332/http://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/1986|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/1999-Fiction|title=The 1999 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Fiction|publisher=The Pulitzer Prizes|access-date=June 15, 2013|archive-date=May 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530153237/http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/1999-Fiction|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Banks was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1996.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=May 17, 2011|archive-date=June 18, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618085806/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

He was a New York State Author for 2004–2006.<ref name="NYStateAuthor">{{cite web |title=Russell Banks; New York State Author, 2004 - 2006 |url=https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/banksr.html |website=New York State Writers Institute |publisher=SUNY-Albany |access-date=6 March 2020}}</ref> 

===Death===
Banks died from cancer at his home in [[Saratoga Springs, New York]], on Sunday, January 8, 2023, at the age of 82.<ref name = Chace/><ref name=Saxon>{{cite web|url =https://www.princeton.edu/news/2023/01/13/russell-banks-acclaimed-novelist-professor-humanities-and-creative-writing-and |title = Russell Banks, acclaimed novelist, professor in the humanities and creative writing, and 'absolutely wonderful' mentor, dies at 82 |website=[[princeton.edu]] |date=January 13, 2023|access-date = January 6, 2024 |last=Saxon |first=Jamie |quote=Russell Banks, award-winning novelist and the Howard G.B. Clark ’21 University Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, and professor of the Humanities Council and creative writing, emeritus, died Jan. 8 from cancer at his home in Saratoga Springs, New York. He was 82.}}</ref>

==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 (novel)|Continental Drift]]'', ''[[Rule of the Bone]]'', ''[[Cloudsplitter]]'', ''[[The Sweet Hereafter (novel)|The Sweet Hereafter]]'', and ''Affliction''. The latter two novels were each made into feature films in 1997 (see [[The Sweet Hereafter (film)|''The Sweet Hereafter'']] and [[Affliction (1997 film)|''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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum156.php|date=January 18, 2005|access-date=December 9, 2007|title=Interview: Russell Banks|work=IdentityTheory.com|archive-date=December 14, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214112758/http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum156.php|url-status=live}}</ref> 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:

{{blockquote|1=After living in Jamaica and writing ''The Book of Jamaica'', I accepted that I was obliged, for example, to have African-American friends. I was obliged to address, deliberately, the overlapping social and racial contexts of my life. I'm a white man in a white-dominated, racialized society, therefore, if I want to I can live my whole life in a racial fantasy. Most white Americans do just that. Because we ''can''. In a color-defined society we are invited to think that white is not a color. We are invited to fantasize, and we act accordingly.<ref name=Paris/>}}
The themes of ''[[Continental Drift (novel)|Continental Drift]]'' (1985) include globalization and unrest in [[Haiti]]. His 2004 novel ''[[The Darling (novel)|The Darling]]'' is largely set in [[Liberia]] and deals with the racial and political experience of the white American narrator.

Writing in the ''Journal of American Studies'', Anthony Hutchison argues that, "[a]side from [[William Faulkner]] it is difficult to think of a white twentieth-century American writer who has negotiated the issue of race in as sustained, unflinching and intelligent a fashion as Russell Banks".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Representative Man: John Brown and the Politics of Redemption in Russell Banks's ''Cloudsplitter''|first=Anthony|last=Hutchison|journal=Journal of American Studies|volume=41|issue=1|pages=67–82|year=2007|doi=10.1017/S0021875806002751|s2cid=145078185}}</ref>

In 2023, it was confirmed that [[Paul Schrader]] would write and direct ''[[Oh, Canada (film)|Oh, Canada]]'', an adaptation of Banks's novel, ''Foregone'', starring [[Richard Gere]] and [[Jacob Elordi]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bergeson |first1=Samantha |title=Jacob Elordi Joins Richard Gere in Paul Schrader's 'Oh, Canada' |date=September 11, 2023 |url=https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/jacob-elordi-join-richard-gere-paul-schrader-oh-canada-1234904461/ |publisher=IndieWire |access-date=18 September 2023}}</ref>

===Reception===
According to Robert Faggen in ''The Paris Review'', Banks's debut novel, ''Family Life'', "was not a critical success". His next volume, a collection of short stories called ''Searching for Survivors'', won Banks an [[O. Henry Award]]. A second collection of short stories, ''The New World'', published in 1978, "received acclaim for its blending of historical and semi-autobiographical material".<ref name=Paris/>

Many have admired Banks's realistic writing, which often explores American social dilemmas and moral struggles. Reviewers have appreciated his portrayal of the working-class people struggling to overcome destructive relationships, poverty, drug abuse, and spiritual confusion. Scholars have variously compared his fiction to the works of [[Raymond Carver]], [[Richard Ford]], and [[Andre Dubus]]. Christine Benvenuto commented that "Banks writes with an intensely focused empathy and a compassionate sense of humor that help to keep readers, if not his characters, afloat through the misadventures and outright tragedies of his books."<ref>{{cite web|last=Burns and Hunter|first=Tom and Jeffery W.|title=Russell Banks|url=http://www.enotes.com/russell-banks-criticism/banks-russell|access-date=October 23, 2011}}</ref>

He was briefly mentioned in philosopher [[Richard Rorty]]'s 1996 [[future history]] essay "Fraternity Reigns" in ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]''. Rorty referred to him as having written a 2021 novel, ''Trampling the Vineyards'', describing it as  "[[samizdat]]" because of the political repression envisioned in the philosopher's speculative essay.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/29/magazine/fraternity-reigns.html|last=Rorty|first=Richard|title=Fraternity Reigns: Looking Backwards from the Year 2096|date=September 26, 1996|access-date=August 31, 2021|publisher=The New York Times Company}}</ref>

In 2011, ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'}}s [[Tom Cox (writer)|Tom Cox]] selected ''Cloudsplitter'' as one of his "overlooked classics of American literature".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/10/classic-american-literature-russell-banks-cloudsplitter|title=Overlooked classics of American literature: Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks|work=The Guardian|first=Tom|last=Cox|date=November 10, 2011|access-date=June 15, 2013|archive-date=December 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227101926/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/10/classic-american-literature-russell-banks-cloudsplitter|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
{{incomplete list|date=May 2023}}
*1975 [[O. Henry Award]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Russell Banks, acclaimed novelist, professor in the humanities and creative writing, and 'absolutely wonderful' mentor, dies at 82 |url=https://www.princeton.edu/news/2023/01/13/russell-banks-acclaimed-novelist-professor-humanities-and-creative-writing-and |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Princeton University |language=en}}</ref>
*1985 [[Dos Passos Prize]]<ref name="1985DosPassosPrize" />
*1986 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]] finalist, ''Continental Drift<ref name=":2"> {{Cite news |title=Russell Banks, novelist of the working class, dies at 82 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/01/09/russell-banks-author-dead/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}} </ref>''
*1996 Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]<ref name="AAAS" />
*1998 [[Anisfield-Wolf Book Award]]<ref name=":0" />
*1999 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]] finalist, ''Cloudsplitter<ref name=":2" />''
*2004–2006 New York State Author<ref name="NYStateAuthor" />
*2008 [[Thornton Wilder Prize]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Us {{!}} Thornton Wilder Society |url=https://www.twildersociety.org/about-us/ |access-date=2023-05-17 |language=en-US}}</ref>
*2011 Commonwealth Award for Literature<ref>{{Cite web |title=ABOUT |url=https://www.russellbanks.com/about |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=russellbanks.com |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616131833/https://www.russellbanks.com/about |archive-date=16 June 2021}}</ref>
*2012 [[Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction|Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction]], shortlist, ''Lost Memory of Skin''<ref name=lj2012>{{cite web |url=http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/05/readers-advisory/wyatts-world-the-carnegie-medals-short-list/ |title=Wyatt's World: The Carnegie Medals Short List |date=May 21, 2012 |first=Neal |last=Wyatt |access-date=May 23, 2012 |work=[[Library Journal]] |archive-date=May 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527134905/http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/05/readers-advisory/wyatts-world-the-carnegie-medals-short-list/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*American Book Award{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
*Guggenheim Fellowship{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==Works==
;Novels<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Where to Start With Russell Banks |url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2023/01/17/where-start-russell-banks |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=The New York Public Library |language=en}}</ref>
* ''Family Life'' (1975)
* ''Hamilton Stark'' (1978)
* ''The Book of Jamaica'' (1980)
* ''The Relation of My Imprisonment'' (1983)
* ''[[Continental Drift (novel)|Continental Drift]]'' (1985)
* ''[[Affliction (1997 film)|Affliction]]'' (1989)
* ''[[The Sweet Hereafter (novel)|The Sweet Hereafter]]'' (1991)
* ''[[Rule of the Bone]]'' (1995)
* ''[[Cloudsplitter]]'' (1998)
* ''[[The Darling (novel)|The Darling]]'' (2004)
* ''The Reserve'' (2008)
* ''[[Lost Memory of Skin]]'' (2011)
* ''Foregone'' (2021)
* ''The Magic Kingdom'' (2022)<ref>Briefly reviewed in the [https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/books-brief-16 January 2023 issue] of ''[[Commonweal (magazine)|Commonweal]]'', p.65.</ref>

;Story collections<ref name=":1" />
* ''Searching for Survivors ''(1975) 
* ''[[The New World (short story collection)|The New World]]'' (1978)
* ''Trailerpark'' (1981)
* ''Success Stories'' (1986)
* ''[[The Angel on the Roof|The Angel on the Roof: The Stories of Russell Banks]]'' (2000)
* ''A Permanent Member of the Family'' (2013)
* ''American Spirits'' (2024)

;Poetry 
* ''Waiting to Freeze'' (1969)
* ''Snow'' (1974)

;Nonfiction<ref name=":1" />
* ''Invisible Stranger'' (1998)
* ''Dreaming Up America'' (2008)
* ''Voyager'' (2016)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|first=Kevin T.|last=McEneaney|year=2010|title=Russell Banks: In Search of Freedom|location=Santa Barbara, CA|publisher=Praeger|isbn=978-0313381652}}
*{{cite book|first=Robert|last=Niemi|author-link=Robert Niemi|year=1997|title=Russell Banks|location=Twayne, NY|publisher=Twayne|isbn=080574018X}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Russell Banks}}
'''Literary links'''
*http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/banksr.html
*[https://archive.today/20130113210232/http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=174 Russell Banks reads his short story "The Moor" on ''This American Life'']
*[http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/banks.html Russell Banks Papers] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]]
*[http://www.hackwriters.com/Russellbanks.htm Essay on Banks' short stories]

'''Interviews'''
* {{cite journal| url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1104/the-art-of-fiction-no-152-russell-banks | title=Russell Banks, The Art of Fiction No. 152| journal=Paris Review| date=Summer 1998| first=Robert | last=Faggen | volume=Summer 1998| issue=147}}
* Interview, 2003: https://www.januarymagazine.com/profiles/rbanks.html
*[http://www.biblioblog.fr/index.php/post/2008/04/16/Interview-of-Russell-Banks Interview, March, 2008]
*[http://www.cercles.com/interviews/banks.html Interview with Russell Banks when "The Darling" was published]
*{{cite web
|title=Russell Banks
|author=Steven Barclay Agency
|others=Contains many links to material about Banks
|url=http://www.barclayagency.com/banks.html | access-date=July 20, 2021}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5_ZeIOonoQ Interview with Russell Banks], ''A DISCUSSION WITH National Authors on Tour'' TV Series, Episode #159 (1995)

{{John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry}}

{{American Book Awards}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Russell}}
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:2023 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in New York (state)]]
[[Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
[[Category:Writers from Newton, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Princeton University faculty]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:People from Keene, New York]]
[[Category:PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners]]
[[Category:American Book Award winners]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from New Jersey]]
[[Category:Novelists from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from New Jersey]]