Biography

Garrison Keillor was born Gary Edward Keillor on August 7, 1942, in Anoka, a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. He is one of six children of Grace Ruth (Dunham) and John Philip Keillor, who was a carpenter and postal worker. His father was of English, Welsh, and German, descent, and his paternal grandfather was Canadian. His maternal grandparents were Scottish immigrants.

Keillor graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in English in 1966. There he began his broadcasting career on the student-operated radio station, named Radio K. In 1969 he began writing for The New Yorker. On July 6, 1974 he started "A Prarie Home Companion" in a St. Paul college theatre before an audience of twelve people. In 1987, he moved to New York where, in 1989, he started "The American Radio Company", which after four seasons returned to the name "A Prarie Home Companion" in 1993, and is again based in Minnesota. From 1996-2001 Keillor authored an advice column, titled "Mr. Blue", on Salon.com. He resigned after having a heart surgery in 2001. Since June of 2005 Garrison Keillor has been a syndicated newspaper columnist at Salon.com.

Garrison Keillor is a prolific author with over 100 of written or recorded works. He is also a storyteller, performance artist, radio host and comedian. He published eleven books, including three books for children. He is married to Jenny Lind Nilsson, a violinist in the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, with whom he has a daughter. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife and daughter, and owns a Manhattan apartment.