Russell Banks is the author of poetry, nonfiction, and more than fifteen works of fiction admired for their realism and portrayal of working-class people. Cloudsplitter and Continental Drift were both finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous international prizes. Two of his novels, The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction, have been made into award-winning films. A member of the International Parliament of Writers and former New York State Author, Banks was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996. His latest novel, Forgone, was published in March 2021.
Laura Benanti was honored with the Tony Award for Gypsy and won Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for her performance in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Additional Broadway credits include Into the Woods, In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), She Loves Me, Meteor Shower, and My Fair Lady. She has been featured on screen in Nurse Jackie, The Good Wife, Nashville, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Sound of Music Live!, Supergirl, The Detour, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Younger, Worth, Here Today, tick tick…Boom!, and the current incarnation of Gossip Girl.
Zach Grenier received a Tony nomination for Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations for his performance as Ludwig van Beethoven. He’s known on television for portraying David Lee on CBS’s The Good Wife and its spin-off on Paramount+ The Good Fight, Mayor Feratti on Ray Donovan, and Kenton on Hulu’s Devs. His films include Fight Club, Zodiac, and Ride with the Devil. His favorite stage role is Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, which he played at the Pittsburgh Public Theater.
Cynthia Nixon made her film debut in Little Darlings at 12 and her Broadway debut at 14 in The Philadelphia Story. Since then she’s appeared in more than 40 plays, scores of films and TV shows, and won 2 Emmys, 2 Tonys, and a Grammy. Best known for her role as Miranda on HBO’s Sex and the City, she will co-star in the sequel series And Just Like That... this December on HBO Max. In 2017, Nixon alternated the roles of Regina and Birdie with Laura Linney in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. She appeared on numerous "Best Actress of 2018" lists for her portrayal of Emily Dickinson in Terrence Davies' much-lauded film A Quiet Passion. Also in 2018 she ran for Governor of New York state. This January she will co-star in Julian Fellowes’ The Gilded Age on HBO. Nixon and her wife, Christine, have 3 children: Sam, Charlie, and Max.
Alix Ohlin is the author of the short story collections Babylon and Other Stories, Signs and Wonders, and most recently, We Want What We Want, and the novels The Missing Person, Inside and Dual Citizens, a finalist for the Giller Prize. Her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories, Best NewAmerican Voices, The New Yorker, The Walrus, and Tin House, among other publications. Ohlin is Director of the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
CREDITS
“A Permanent Member of the Family” by Russell Banks, from A Permanent Member of the Family (Ecco, 2013). Copyright © 2013 by Russell Banks. Used by permission of Trident Media.
“The Cruise” by Alix Ohlin, from Signs and Wonders (Vintage, 2012). First appeared in World Literature Today (Volume 85, No. 5, 2010). Copyright © 2010 by Alix Ohlin. Used by permission of The Williams Company.
