Garrison Keillor

For the character born in Lake Wobegon, see Garrison Keillor (resident).

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, actor, radio personality and proprietor. He created the radio program A Prairie Home Companion (APHC) that features many musical guests, especially folk and traditional musicians, tongue-in-cheek radio drama, and relaxed humor.

The "News from Lake Wobegon" segment of APHC is a report of the people that live in or visit Lake Wobegon, including former residents that have returned. Keillor himself is sometimes included in the reports. (See the character Garrison Keillor for more details.)

As an author, Keillor has written nine novels and story collections involving Lake Wobegon, thirteen books of other works, three poetry collections and three poetry anthologies. He also wrote the screenplay and starred in the movie A Prairie Home Companion, based the radio program. The movie is about a long-time radio variety program that is facing being shut down. The theater where it is recorded and broadcast from is owned by WLT, the same radio station named in the novel WLT: A Radio Romance.

In November 2006, Keillor opened Common Good Books, an independent bookstore in St. Paul, Minnesota. The store moved to a new location in 2012. In January 2019, Keillor put the store up for sale, saying "it was time to turn the store over to someone else." The store was purchased by Nicholas Ballas and renamed to Next Chapter Booksellers.

Keillor also hosts The Writer's Almanac, a daily podcast and newsletter of poetry and historical interest pieces, usually of literary significance. It began as a radio program in 1993. Current podcasts are available on Keillor's website and archives of past broadcasts are split between two other sites.

In 2018, Keillor resumed writing weekly columns that are available on his website and in newspapers like the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Relatives

Keillor is related to Prudence Crandall, a schoolteacher in the 1800s and an activist for the rights of African Americans and women's suffrage. He is also related to David Powell, who led a wagon train through the Colorado mountains in 1859.

Bibliography

Keillor has adapted ideas and characters found in the "News from Lake Wobegon" reports into full novels. In addition, he recorded the audiobook edition of many of his novels, sometimes with the assistance of other people, such as Tim Russell and Sue Scott for Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny. Both actors performed with Keillor on APHC and appeared in the film.

Some of the audiobooks differ from the published versions. For example, for A Christmas Blizzard, some sections were re-written and other sections were added.

Lake Wobegon

• Lake Wobegon Days (1985), ISBN 0-14-013161-2; a recorded version of this won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Non-musical Album in 1988
• Leaving Home (1987; collection of Lake Wobegon stories), ISBN 0-670-81976-X
• We Are Still Married: Stories & Letters (1989; collection including some Lake Wobegon stories), ISBN 0-670-82647-2
  • An expanded edition was released in 1990 that added six stories and removed one from the original publication. ISBN 978-0-140-13156-7
• Wobegon Boy (1997), ISBN 0-670-87807-3
• Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 (2001), ISBN 0-571-21014-7
• In Search of Lake Wobegon (photographs by Richard Olsenius, 2001), ISBN 978-0-670-03037-8
• Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon (2007), ISBN 0-670-06356-8
• Liberty: A Novel of Lake Wobegon (2008), ISBN 0-670-01991-7
• Life among the Lutherans (2009), ISBN 978-0-8066-7061-4
• Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance (2009), ISBN 978-0-670-02109-3

Other works

• G.K. The D.J. (1977)
• Happy to Be Here (1981), ISBN 0-06-811201-7
• WLT: A Radio Romance (1991), ISBN 0-670-81857-7
• The Book of Guys (1993), ISBN 0-670-84943-X
• The Sandy Bottom Orchestra (with Jenny Lind Nilsson, 1996), ISBN 0-7868-1250-8
• Me, by Jimmy "Big Boy" Valente (1999), ISBN 0-670-88796-X
• Love Me (2003), ISBN 0-670-03246-8
• Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America (2004), ISBN 0-670-03365-0
  • A revised and updated edition was released in 2006.
• Daddy's Girl (2005), ISBN 978-1-4231-0514-5
• A Christmas Blizzard (2009), ISBN 978-0-670-02136-9
• Cat, You Better Come Home (2010), 978-0670012770
• Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny (2012), ISBN 0-143-12081-6
• The Keillor Reader (2014), ISBN 978-0670020584

Poetry and poetry anthologies

• The Selected Verse of Margaret Haskins Durber (1979)
• 77 Love Sonnets (2009), ISBN 0-14-311527-8
• O, What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound (2013)
• Good Poems (2002), ISBN 0-670-03126-7
• Good Poems for Hard Times (2005), ISBN 0-670-03436-3
• Good Poems, American Places (2011), ISBN 0-670-02254-3