
If Russell Banks (b. 1940) says he doesn't "think about his] reader at all when he's] writing," he clearly enjoys talking with his actual readers, whether they be students, writers, or academics, delighting in the diversity of his audience and in the "greater democratization...

These conversations span a period of over thirty years, from 1976 with the publication of Russell Banks's first novel, Family Life, and his first collection of short stories, to 2008 with The Reserve. Most date from the late 1990s on, when the publication of Pulitzer-finalist...
