Novelist Russell Banks.

Novelist Russell Banks and Canadian Film Director Atom Egoyan discuss their new film “The Sweet Hereafter”. The film is adapted from Banks’ 1991 novel. It’s the story of how a small town deals with a tragic school bus crash. Banks has written 12 novels which include: “Affliction,” “Rule of the Bone,” “Searching for Survivors,” “The Book of Jamaica,” and “Continental Drift.” Egoyan is best known for “Exotica” a film that won the International Critics Prize for Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival.

Banks, who died Jan. 7, wrote about ordinary people coping with difficulties in contemporary society. His books included The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction. Originally broadcast in 1989 and '95.

Novelist Russell banks is the author of many works of fiction, Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplitter, and Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter, both of which have been made into films. He speaks with Terry Gross about his latest novel, Darling.