In this episode, 2008-09 Bennett Fellows Robert Rosenberg, Luljeta Lleshanaku, and Mary Palevsky discuss their latest works and the April 27, 2009 BMI event 'Craft: A Conversation.' This interview appeared on the April 24, 2009 edition of KNPR's 'State of Nevada.' Please visit http://blackmountaininstitute.org/ for more information on Rosenberg, Lleshanaku, and Palevsky and on the 'Craft: A Conversation' event. This audio segment is used with the gracious permission of KNPR's 'State of Nevada' which podcasts many segments of its programs. See knpr.org/son/feeds for more information.

In this episode, novelist Russell Banks and writer, producer, and actress Guinevere Turner discuss the mechanisms that turn novels into movies. BMI Associate Director Richard Wiley moderates. Banks' novels include _The Reserve_, _Cloudsplitter_, _The Darling_, _The Relation of My Imprisonment_, _Continental Drift_, _Rule of the Bone_, _Affliction_, and _The Sweet Hereafter_. The latter two works were adapted into feature films that received widespread critical acclaim, and _The Darling_ is currently under development by Focus Features and Martin Scorsese. Banks is presently working on the screenplay for _Rule of the Bone_. Turner co-wrote the screenplay for Bret Easton Ellis' _American Psycho_ and co-wrote and co-produced the groundbreaking film _Go Fish_, in which she also starred. A writer and story editor for the first two seasons of _The L Word_, Turner also made several memorable guest appearances on the show as Alice Pieszecki's screenwriter ex-girlfriend, Gabby. In 2005, Turner wrote the script for _Blood Rayne_, directed by Uwe Boll, and the script for _The Notorious Bettie Page_ with director Mary Harron. Co-sponsored by CineVegas, this event took place March 11, 2009 in the UNLV Student Union Theatre in Las Vegas, NV.

In this episode, writer Russell Banks discusses his life and works and reads from two recent pieces of short fiction. Banks is the founding president of Cities of Refuge North America and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His novels include _The Reserve_, _Cloudsplitter_, _The Darling_, _The Relation of My Imprisonment_, _Continental Drift_, _Rule of the Bone_, _Affliction_, and _The Sweet Hereafter_. The latter two works were adapted into feature films that received widespread critical acclaim, and _The Darling_ is currently under development by Focus Features and Martin Scorsese. His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous international prizes and awards, including the Ingram Merrill Award and the John Dos Passos Award. Banks lives in upstate New York and is the New York State Author. He will serve at the Elias Ghanem Chair in Creative Writing at UNLV from mid-February to mid-March. This event took place February 24, 2009 in the UNLV Student Union Theatre in Las Vegas, NV.

In this episode, Albanian poet and Bennett Fellow Luljeta Lleshanaku discusses her life and work on the December 23, 2008 edition of KNPR's 'State of Nevada.' A selection of her work is available in English in a volume entitled _Fresco_; and while a Fellow at the BMI, she's working on a collection of essays on modern American culture. Lleshanaku will appear with Mary Palevsky and Robert Rosenberg -- the other two 2008-09 Bennett Fellows -- on Monday, April 27 at the Barrick Museum Auditorium at UNLV. Please visit http://blackmountaininstitute.org/ for more information on Lleshanaku and this event. This audio segment is used with the gracious permission of KNPR's 'State of Nevada' which podcasts many segments of its programs. See knpr.org/son/feeds for more information.

In this episode, writer Russell Banks discusses his new novel _The Reserve_ on the February 19, 2009 edition of KNPR's 'State of Nevada.' Part love story, part murder mystery -- _The Reserve_ is set on the cusp of WWII and raises questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness. Generally regarded as one of the great novelists of the past 40 years, Banks will will serve as UNLV's Elias Ghanem Chair in Creative Writing from mid-February to mid-March and will appear in two upcoming BMI events: on Tuesday, February 24 and Wednesday, March 11. Please visit http://blackmountaininstitute.org/ for more information on Banks and these events. This audio segment is used with the gracious permission of KNPR's 'State of Nevada' which podcasts many segments of its programs. See knpr.org/son/feeds for more information.

In this episode, Farai Chideya, Susan Faludi, Katha Pollitt, and Dina Titus discuss 'Race, Gender, and the Transformation of American Politics.' Chideya is a multimedia journalist who has worked in print, television, and online. Her latest book is _Trust: Reaching the 100 Million Missing Voters_. She currently hosts NPR's 'News and Notes.' Faludi is the author of _Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man_ and _Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women_, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. Her most recent book, _The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America_, examines the post-9/11 outpouring in the media, popular culture, and political life. A regular columnist for _The Nation_, Pollitt's writing has also appeared in _The New Yorker_, _Harper's_, _Ms._, and _The New York Times_, among other venues. Her volume of personal essays, _Learning to Drive and Other Life Stories_, just appeared in paperback. Titus, the event moderator, has taught American and Nevada government in the Department of Political Science at UNLV for 30 years. She was recently elected to the U.S. Congress as the representative for Nevada's third congressional district. This event took place on December 3, 2008 in the Beam Music Center's Recital Hall at UNLV in Las Vegas, NV. Video from the event can be found in the BMI multimedia archive. See http://blackmountaininstitute.org/ for more information.

Farai Chideya, NPR Commentator and author of the book _The Color of our Future: Race in the 21st century_, and Katha Pollitt, columnist for _The Nation_ and author of the book _Learning to Drive and Other Life Stories_, discuss the impact of race and gender on the 2008 election on the December 3, 2008 edition of KNPR's 'State of Nevada.' Chideya and Pollitt appeared with Susan Faludi and Congresswoman Dina Titus later that day in a BMI forum held at UNLV entitled 'Race, Gender, and the Transformation of American Politics.' This audio segment is used with the gracious permission of KNPR's 'State of Nevada' which podcasts many segments of its programs. See knpr.org/son/feeds for more information.

Poet Charles Simic engages students and faculty in conversation. A casual affair, this event took place in the afternoon of October 21, 2008, in advance of Simic's formal reading which took place later that night. The audio from Simic's formal reading can be found reproduced as episode twenty-seven of the BMI podcast, and video from the reading and from this conversation event can be found in the multimedia section of the BMI website. Visit http://blackmountaininstitute.org/ for more information.

Poet, translator, and editor Charles Simic reads from and discusses new and selected work. Simic, the author of eighteen collections of poetry, served as U.S. Poet Laureate in 2007 and is professor emeritus of creative writing and literature at the University of New Hampshire. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for his book of prose poems _The World Doesn't End_, and his 1996 collection, _Walking the Black Cat_, was a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry. His most recent poetry volume is _That Little Something_ (2008). Simic held a MacArThu Fellowship from 1984-1989 and has also held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the NEA. In 2007, the same day he was appointed Poet Laureate, Simic received the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets for 'outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry.' This event was held October 21, 2008 at the UNLV Student Union Theatre and was co-sponsored by the Department of English with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Video from this event can be found in the multimedia section of the BMI website. Visit http://blackmountaininstitute.org/ for more information.

Oral historian and Bennett Fellow Mary Palevsky discusses her book _Atomic Fragments: A Daughter's Questions_ on the November 19, 2008 edition of KNPR's 'State of Nevada.' This audio segment is used with the gracious permission of KNPR's 'State of Nevada' which podcasts many segments of its programs. See knpr.org/son/feeds for more information.