Garrison Keillor is a reliably familiar radio voice to the millions who listen to his weekend broadcasts of “A Prairie Home Companion,” but people may not be as familiar with his work as essayist, novelist and newspaperman. In a voluminous new release, Keillor presents a variety of his written work, ranging from articles penned for The New Yorker and The Atlantic, snippets of monologues from the radio show, excerpts from novels and more. The Keillor Reader is an extraordinarily humorous and intelligent look through Keillor’s eyes at everything from the fictional Lake Wobegon to the astronomical costs of health care for pets.
This wide-ranging collection also features two new essays by Keillor, “Cheerfulness” and “What We Have Learned So Far.” A Midwesterner through and through, Keillor’s Minnesota upbringing plays heavy into his work, allowing Wisconsinites to feel an enduring sense of connection to all of his musings, whether they be poetic, literary or scholarly in nature. The Keillor Reader is a lighthearted look at life as told by a masterful storyteller with an outrageously witty and delightfully engaging sense of style.
A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Keillor is the prolific author of 19 books of fiction and humor. Keillor will appear at a ticketed event in the UW-Milwaukee Ballroom on Monday, May 5 at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $30 and include admission as well as a signed copy of The Keillor Reader. This event is co-sponsored by Boswell Book Co. and the UWM Bookstore.
Book Happening
Alan R. Karls
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1-3 p.m., May 3
Racine Heritage Museum
701 Main St.
Horlick Field has been a landmark and focal point in Racine since opening nearly a century ago. Alan Karls’ Racine’s Horlick Athletic Field: Drums Along the Foundries chronicles a facility that housed long-defunct NFL franchises, a professional women’s baseball team and innumerable semi-pro games and drum and bugle corps shows.
