Russell Banks

I don't want it to be all that self-conscious or artificial, but it really grows out of my having invented myself as a listener so that I could hear her voice.

John Brown first swam into my vision in the 1960s when I was a political activist in the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement at Chapel Hill, where I went to university.

But on the other hand, I don't actively seek out stories or hunt them down.

In my opinion, the Republican Party is the last on the list to care about the needs of old people and children and poor people.

There's a whole bunch of unfinished stuff. Then I've got books of lyrics. I find it frustrating to finish a song and not be able to record it... so I don't write a million songs.

Another thing that freaks me out is time. Time is like a book. You have a beginning, a middle and an end. It's just a cycle.