H&SS News

Novelist Russell Banks To Present Final Lecture in 2007-2008 Adamson Visiting Writer Series at Carnegie Mellon

PITTSBURGH—Novelist Russell Banks will present the final talk in Carnegie Mellon University’s 2007-2008 Adamson Visiting Writers Series at 8 p.m., Friday, May 2 in the Adamson Wing, Baker Hall 136A. After Banks’ lecture, which is free and open to the public, Carnegie Mellon’s Department of English will present its annual Adamson Awards to honor student writing.

The author of more than a dozen novels and short story collections, including “Cloudsplitter,” “Affliction” and “The Sweet Hereafter,” Banks frequently draws from the working class roots of his New Hampshire childhood in developing his plotlines and characters and incorporates historical themes into his work. His latest novel, “The Reserve,” is set during the Great Depression and explores relationships among the privileged clientele of an exclusive Adirondack Mountain resort, where they enjoy the rewards of wealth as the rest of the country struggles through dire poverty.

Banks’ writing has garnered much acclaim, earning him Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts grants and a St. Lawrence Prize for fiction.

Supported by an endowment established by the late Carnegie Mellon alumnus Clarence Adamson in memory of his wife, Pauline, the Adamson Awards honor student writers for their work in fiction, poetry, screen writing and nonfiction. Awards include the Pauline Adamson Awards, the Academy of American Poets Prize, the Margaret Smith Cushing Award and the Carnegie Mellon University Press Prize.

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