Garrison Keillor coming to WCU

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The humorist and writer who made Lake Wobegon famous is coming to Western Carolina University on Monday, March 8, for a sold-out show at the Fine and Performing Arts Center.

Garrison Keillor, host of the popular public radio show “A Prairie Home Companion,” will take center stage at 7 p.m.

Keillor hosted the first broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion” in St. Paul, Minn., on July 6, 1974. The show ended in 1987, resumed in 1989 in New York as “The American Radio Company,” returned to Minnesota, and in 1993 resumed the name “A Prairie Home Companion.” More than 3 million listeners on more than 450 public radio stations now hear the show each week.

Keillor will be traveling to Cullowhee after presenting a show Sunday night, March 7, in Northhampton, Mass.

Asked about whether he feels added pressure in presenting a one-man stage show, compared to his radio show, Keillor recently said this to a reporter for the Florida Times-Union:

“I long ago got over stage fright, and they are improvised. I usually start out by doing a batch of sonnets, and I sing them, and that takes me about seven or eight minutes, and in the course of singing these sonnets I bring myself around to whatever it is I want to talk about. It’s little snatches of stories and reminiscence about Anoka, Minn., slightly disguised to make it Lake Wobegon, and I talk about whatever comes to mind. It’s pretty much off the cuff.”

Keillor’s most recent role included playing himself in the movie adaptation of his show, “A Prairie Home Companion.” He also is the author of 12 books, including “Lake Wobegon Days,” “The Book of Guys,” “The Old Man Who Loved Cheese,” “Wobegon Boy,” “Me: By Jimmy ‘Big Boy’ Valente as Told to Garrison Keillor,” “Love Me” and “Homegrown Democrat.” His newest novel, “Pontoon,” was released in the fall of 2007.

Keillor has received numerous awards, including a Grammy Award for his recording of “Lake Wobegon Days.” He also has received two Cable ACE Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recently was presented a National Humanities Medal by the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame at Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications in 1994.

“Most men can’t tell a decent lie, much less a decent story, but Garrison Keillor is a man who has created a whole mythical state in his head,” said Paul Lormand, director of the Fine and Performing Arts Center. “What on honor to have this legendary storyteller on our stage.”

“An Evening with Garrison Keillor” is sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor and the Lectures, Concerts and Exhibitions Series.