Successful writers can live anywhere they want. For novelist Russell Banks, that means the Adirondacks, with a "winter home" in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

"My wife and I are probably the only people in North America who go south to Saratoga for the winter," laughed Banks, who heads even farther south Friday when he visits Carnegie Mellon University for classes and a reading.

He's no stranger to Pittsburgh. As president of Cities of Refugee North America, Banks has visited the Pittsburgh chapter on the North Side. The organization shelters and promotes writers in exile.

A native of New England, Banks has lived in the vast northern woods of New York for 20 years, using the forest as the setting for four of his novels, including the latest, "The Reserve," published three months ago.

"The Adirondacks is the one part of the world that really stimulates my imagination in a way that very few other cultures have done," he explained. "I'm fascinated by the culture, by the enormity of it. It's a true wilderness area."

Site of one of the country's largest national forests, the area inspired Banks' longest novel, 1998's "Cloudsplitter," a complex fictional account of John Brown, who owned a farm in upstate New York.

That book also signaled a shift in Banks' focus from contemporary to historical America. "The Reserve" follows that thread using a central character based on the 1930s artist Rockwell Kent and propelled by the events of that era -- the Great Depression and the rise of fascism in Europe.

"I picked that time period because it has some bearing on today, both the economics of the time and the international political situation, especially America's tepid response to what was happening," Banks said.

He's debating whether to read from the novel or discuss its influences.

"I've been six weeks on the road in America and two in Europe promoting 'The Reserve,' so I've gotten tired of my own voice," he said.

Instead, he might "talk and read about the relationship between history and fiction, how from writer's point of view, you can invite history into the fictional world without doing any injustice or harm to the historical context."

Leading him in that direction is his contention that the country's current crop of young novelists reflects "a real lack of engagement with history," he said.

"So much fiction being written today sounds as if we didn't have a historical context. Sure, we have our daily lives and our intimate lives, but there's always a context to them."

Banks cited previous generations of novelists, including Philip Roth, E.L. Doctorow, Don DeLillo and Toni Morrison, as key practitioners of historic fiction.

For the moment, Banks has shelved fiction writing for screen writing. He's wrapping up the film script for "The Darling," his 2004 novel about the fate of 1960s radicals. Martin Scorsese is in line to direct.

He also has adapted his novels "The Sweet Hereafter" and "Affliction" for the screen.

Russell Banks speaks at 8 p.m. in the Adamson Wing of Baker Hall on the CMU campus. It's free. The occasion is the English Department's 27th awards ceremony for its writing students; 412-268-2850.

Russell Banks cited Michael Chabon as one younger novelist who does value history, particularly in his latest novel, "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," published last year.

To promote the paperback edition, the University of Pittsburgh grad presents a reading and signing Friday night at 7 at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 2705 E. Carson St., South Side. Phone: 412-381-3600.

The novel blends history with fantasy as Chabon conjures up a tale about the lives of European Jews who were settled in Alaska after World War II, a proposal floated by the Roosevelt administration.