Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor is an accomplished American author, radio personality, and humorist. He is best known for his creation of the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, which is the setting for many of his stories. Lake Wobegon is depicted as a small town in Minnesota, and its depiction in Keillor's work is warm and affectionate, highlighting the quirks and eccentricities of its residents. Keillor's stories about Lake Wobegon have been adapted into a successful series of books, and he is also known for his long-running radio show, A Prairie Home Companion.

Keillor was born in Anoka, Minnesota in 1942 and grew up in a family that belonged to the Plymouth Brethren, a fundamentalist Christian denomination. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in English in 1966 and began his broadcasting career on the student-operated radio station at the university. Keillor's professional radio career began in 1969 with Minnesota Educational Radio, now Minnesota Public Radio. He hosted a morning program that featured an eclectic mix of music, and it was during this time that he began submitting fiction to The New Yorker.

In addition to his work as a radio personality and author, Keillor is also a skilled musician and satirist. He has released several albums of his own music, and his humor often contains a satirical edge. Keillor has been married three times and has two children. He is known for his political activism and has been a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. In 2006, he published a collection of political essays titled Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America. Keillor currently lives in New York City with his wife, Jenny.