I began as a boy with artistic talent... as a visual artist... I thought that was what I'd become and in my late teens drifted into reading serious literature.
Russell BanksChoose your agent as carefully as you would choose your accountant or lawyer. Or dentist.
Russell BanksBoys like it when you talk to them as if they were grown menโat least he always did when he was a kidโbecause they pretend thatโs what they are anyhow, grown-up men, and they do it for their entire lives.
Russell BanksAlthough I still occasionally paint and draw, my life has now been shaped by my writing.
Russell BanksOne of the most difficult things to say to another person is, 'I hope that you will love me for no good reason.' But it is what we all want and rarely dare to say to one another, to our children, to our parents and mates, to our friends, and to strangers, especially to strangers who have neither good, nor bad reasons to love us.
Russell Banks