The humorist Garrison Keillor is best known as the host of A Prairie Home Companion (1974-1987; 1993—) and the American Radio Company (1989-1993), both of which have been carried nationally on public radio to up to five million weekly listeners. He has also published stories for the New Yorker and novels about radio and small town life in the Midwest. Keillor is the consummate storyteller, whose creation of the small town of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, where "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average," has won him a large following of listeners and readers drawn to the nostalgic, down-home sentiment of his monologues and stories.

Garrison Keillor

Born Gary Edward Keillor in Anoka, Minnesota, he grew up in rural Brooklyn Park, where he was a devoted listener of popular radio shows like Fibber McGee and Molly...