that i probably will never write, it will be a courtroom novel. and scott didn't invent the genre. neither did john grisham. earl stanley gardner was writing courtroom drama in the 1930's and 1940's. "anatty of a murder" came out in 1958. first we have "to kill a mockingbird," which most lawyers and most lawyer authors will tell you is kind of the seminal work of why we got interested. and i started writing a novel as i was approaching my 40th birthday. i wrote most of it on a ferry going to and from work every day. it took me three years. and that book became "special circumstances," story of a murder in a big law firm.

. >> i think it is our national novel. if there was a national novel of week, this would be it for the united states. i think it's the favorite book of almost everybody you meet. >> the first time in my life that the book had sort of captured me. that was exciting. i didn't realize that literature could do that. >> i remember reading a copy of my aunt's in jamaica queens. it was the first book ever written by a white writer that discussed racism in ways that was complicate and sophisticated. -- complicated and sophisticated. >> a touchstone in american literary and social history. it's a story gently tugged at the issues of racism. >> she was a champion of people who helped us get liberated from racism in this country. >> harper lee's first and only novel. >> a masterpiece is masterpieces not because they're flawless but because they tap into something essential to us, at the heart of who we are and how -- >> a masterpiece and a mystery. >> of course, one kept hoping and waiting for the next novel. sadly, that never came.

that i probably will never write, it will be a courtroom novel. and scott didn't invent the genre. neither did john grisham. earl stanley gardner was writing courtroom drama in the 1930's and 1940's. "anatty of a murder" came out in 1958. first we have "to kill a mockingbird," which most lawyers and most lawyer authors will tell you is kind of the seminal work of why we got interested. and i started writing a novel as i was approaching my 40th birthday. i wrote most of it on a ferry going to and from work every day. it took me three years. and that book became "special circumstances," story of a murder in a big law firm. it came out in 2000 and spent seven weeks on "the new york times"' bestsellers' list. so for those of you who have bought my books, i thank you, because now i don't have to practice law full-time anymore. >> but all kidding aside, you know, i think crime novelists and readers of crime novels whether it's lawyer books or whether it's private detectives or cops, you know, in my world i'm like -- unlike tony's, i can control the outc

i think what's interesting about the novel is america was a deeply divided place. especially in the deep south. segregation was still not yet against the law. and particularly for white southerners, this novel, which caught on, you know, famously and quickly, it gave white southerners a way to think about how they were raised and to think about the system in which they were raised. it did so perhaps in a way that a political speech didn't do because it was told through the eyes of a child. it was a popular story that wasn't just about race, it about growing up in a small town. it was about coming of age. it was about love. it was about lonliness. it had all the suspense. the novel had so many elements with which to draw people in. >> so the tremendous amount of -- about harper lee. i know she never wrote another book. it was a pulitzer prize-winning book, and the film won the academy award. and yet she never wrote another book. what did you learn about harper lee and her reasons? >> well, i was fortunate enough to get great access to two very close friends of her.

i write novels about the types of cases that lawyers like tony handle. in the daytime i work for a big law firm of the type that tony probably would not hold in the highest of esteem, but i'm delighted to be here. you know, i think if you talked to most authors, they will tell you that there is something hot-wired into our system that says we need to try to tell a story. there is nothing at all in my background. i am an absolutely accidental writer. there is nothing in my background which suggests i should be writing novels. i grew up in chicago. i write books about san francisco. i studied accounting at the university of illinois. i have been a corporate and securities attorney for 28 years. i've now written seven best-selling novels about murder trials, death penalty cases, and courtroom drama. i have never handled a criminal case in my life. [laughing] so all of you out there who are thinking of writing novels, there is hope. but i did have this feeling a long time ago, probably from the time i was in high school, that at some point i would like to tr

don't get second novels from such a wonderful writer. >> thank you. and your film is opening nationwide, you're premiering in new york. we'll be looking for your film and your book is available. we have it here in the lobby. it's available on amazon. i'm going to go to paulette and go to john on this question. but, paulette, you've seen so many trials as a court -- first of all, how did you become a courtroom sketch artist? i mean, that's not a usual profession for people, even artists, to seek. how did you get involved in it? >> just about everything in my life has been dumb luck. and i ended up in a courtroom while waiting for somebody and i've been an artist all my life and i always carry a sketchbook with me. so while i was in this trial which happened to be a good trial. most trials are incredibly boring. i was sketching and thought, i could do this. i found it exciting and i was looking for the -- the emotional moments in the trial of which this particular one, it was rich. and the lawyer said, tony sarah is drama and the law at its best. wears

if you look at the novel, the novel is a thinly illustrated metaphor for who else, lou wallace. ben hur is this energetic, young nobleman, who it is not grant who ruins his career, it is someone who lou wallace is on -- lou wallace yast misses the road, but -- lou wallace misses the road, and then others tried to destroy lou wallace, ben hur, other through perseverence and religion lou wallace becomes rich and power, and the funny thing about "ben hur" was the zeal about shilo not only made him write the novel to get even, but it gave him the idea that he needed to promote it. lou wallace spoke everywhere, there were 20,000 productions of "ben hur" on the stage. later there would be four movies after his death. lou wallace sold 750 a week, 1,000 a week, in two years it was selling a million copies a year. it outpaced "uncle tom's cabin," it was the best-selling fiction book in american history until "gone with the wind," it create add nextus between the drama, -- nexus between the drama, novel and the movie. there were towns called ben hur, there were mugs, books with advertisem

novels you believe either are or could be true? >> yes. i like to be, i'm the opposite of magic real stism-- realism. i like to be fact-based. i have to believe it's true in my own mind and if i can do that, hopefully i can convince the reader. >> rose: what lead to you this story in the fear index? >> it has been quite a long process. i got very interested in writing a book that would be a kind of new 1984. and i thought that what was interesting, the threat to us was not to, not state nis more but corporations using new technology. and this back there 1999 i read bill gates's book business at the speed of thought. where he talked about companies developing a digital nervous. it is and really sort of almost becoming independent of the human beings who were workinging there. the company would be smart. and intelligent. and i liked that idea. and i played around with it for some years. and then finally i realized the best place to set this book would be the financial markets where computers really are now dominant. i mean three quar

he built what he called novel seaside cottages. so this is one of his novel seaside cottages where he basically elevated these cars to a second story. here's one in construction. and off on the right there is his little real estate office, in another old car. and jacob heyman this guy really struck gold because he zug in the sand looking for water -- dug in the sand looking for water and hit the ackqua for. so suddenly you had fresh water. that was a big deal. now you could perhaps live out there year-around. this was heyman's land just south of sutro's. you could seat cars lined up waiting for buyers, essentially. in the background you have some of these novel seaside cottages. he left the cars exposed on purpose. it was a publicity thing. you might come out picnicing or walking along the great highway on the weekend and thought what the heck is that thing? you go over, buy a lot, $35 two cars, can't miss. this is that same view just a knew months later. we're talking about mid 1899 now. you can see the cars are all starting to be

if you look at the novel the novel is a thinly illustrated metaphor for lou wallace. judah ben-hur is this energetic charismatic young nobleman. it's not grant who ruined his career but it is gratus. lou wallace is on -- he misses the road but ben-hur hits a roof tile and his rival it is probably henry hallek tries to destroy lou wallace-ben-hur. and only through perseverance and religion lou wallace found his god. he becomes rich and powerful and the funny thing about ben-hur was the zeal about shiloh not only made him write the novel to get even but gave him this idea that he needed to promote it. lou wallace spoke everywhere. there were 20,000 productions of ben-hur on the stage. later there would be four movies after his death. ben-hur sold 750 a week a thousand a week. in two years it was selling a million copies a year. nobody had seen anything like it. it outpaced "uncle tom's cabin." it was the best-selling fiction book in american history until "gone with the wind." it created a nexus between the drama, the novel, the movie and popular advertising. there were

today i write novels and plays. it i am maliki, it comes out two years from now -- if i am lucky, it comes at two years from now. then i would write something monday, it was on television on saturday. i could write something saturday and it would be on tv that night. it was immediate. we would have rehearsal at 7:30 p.m. on saturday night. the rehearsal audience would come to the studio. between dress and air, we rewrites everything and then another audience comes in for the live show. i would go upstairs between the show's end of something on the news struck me as funny, i would write it and put it on "weekend update." it would be on half an hour later. two times, i was under the update desk, handing out jokes that i had written for them. [laughter] it was just so immediate. as far as what i think of it today, i think it is really good. i think seth myers and kristin wiig and fred armisten could have been on it in any era. i think every time you think it is over, you know, john lovitz comes along, tina fey comes al

the disguise is perhaps less marked in that novell than in some of the others. but it woosh impossible to take a single page of dickens and treat it simply as a mirror that he held up to his own life. it's a distorting fun fare mirror where some bits are expanded, other bits are shrunken. what you get say very strange kind of melding of fact and fiction as salman rushdie was saying earlier. >> rose: this is a ip from david copperfield, here it is. >>> copper field. >> do i have the honor of add regular-- addressing the bearer of the name of copperfield. >> yes, is sir. >> wilkins. >> at your service. >> i hope i see you well. >> your esteemed stepfather a man of business like myself has charged me with the honor of providing with you suitable quarters when in town. >> you mean i am to stay with you, sir. >> in short, yes. >> under the impression that your in this metropolis have not as yet been-- and you might have difficulty penetrating the mysteries of a modern baby long, i place myself at your disposal. >> in short, in case you get lost, i have come to take y

i'm trying to write a novel, start a novel this fall and different from what.from this one.enough now that i can write a novel about obsessive love. i've been madly in love, and i mean madly in the sense of insane, madly in love maybe four times in my life and i. >> smith: yeah. >> banks: .probably won't be agaan so maybe it's time for me to sit down while i still can and try to recapture that madness. >> smith: yeah, well, that seems actually a liitle bit more positive than the last few books you've written so. >> banks: [laughs] [laughttr] >> mith: i'll have to.i'll be looking forward to that one. >> bankks all right, great [laughs]. and a pleasureeto meet you. >> banks: thanks. >> smith: .and i wish you all the great luck with this book, it's a wonderful book. >> banks: thank you evan, thanks. >> smith: russeel banks, thank you very much. [applause] >> funding for overheard with evaa smith issprovided in parr by hillco partners, texas government affairs consullancy and its global health care ccnsulting business unit, hillco health. and by he mattson mchale foundation in s