Garrison Keillor announced intentions to bring back The Writer’s Almanac in a Facebook post Monday, according to MPR News.
The weekday public radio segment and podcast hosted by Keillor included a daily poem along with “this day in history” notes. Minnesota Public Radio ended production and distribution of the show when it fired Keillor last year.
“I’m ready to start up The Writers [sic] Almanac again,” Keillor wrote in a Facebook post quoted by MPR, which is either private or has since been removed. “I get the idea that public radio stations will never carry it again and so we’ll need to find a way to do it through social media. There are smart people who can manage this and make it easy. I also want to take A Prairie Home Companion out on tour again.”
A Garrison Keillor Facebook page that says it is curated by Keillor “and staff” also posted Monday that the host intends to bring back The Writer’s Almanac.
Keillor’s attorney also told MPR News that Keillor is looking into distribution options for the show.
MPR fired Keillor in November for “inappropriate behavior” and ended its business relationship with the host, which included ending broadcast and distribution of Writer’s Almanac. Keillor denied wrongdoing.
Keillor and MPR were in mediation over their business relationship in January, but talks stalled, according to MPR News.
In December, an MPR spokesperson told Current that the network was “actively looking into” what a replacement for Writer’s Almanac “could look and sound like.”
I looked forward to Writers Almanac everyday. I miss having it come up on my local NPR station. Would love to hear Garrison’s voice again, keeps nag us informed and entertained.
I just remembered reading the Writers Almanac every morning four years ago when I lived in Maine and thought I would start up again, only to find it has been canceled. What a pity. I do miss the daily poem and memorable dates and a quote or thought for the day. I do hope Mr Keillor succeeds posting it again soon.
It was a wealth of information from all corners of the literary world. I even kept a notebook where I would jot down notes of authors, events, etc I wanted to remember!
He might be showing up again online in some format, not NPR however.
I received the writers almanac this morning. It said that if I wanted to keep getting it that I needed to hit a button at the bottom. well, I hit the wrong button and unsubscribed. I want to receive it as I love it. HELP
a friend sent me the Writer’s Almanac this morning, a Marge Piercy poem but when I try to update my preferences to receive it daily, I can’t.
I miss it terribly. Please help me get re-subscribed.
Thank you.
We listened to PHC at Saturday dinners. Later we listened weekday mornings to readings of a poem with a short background about the poet. We started listening in rural New York, near the border with Canada, when translators enabled FM stations to reach unserved audiences. We were close to forty, with a son and then a daughter. Now we are grandparents, in our eighties, and happy to find ourselves in southern Vermont, which is suburban compared to Hamilton County in the Adirondacks.
Garrison read a selection of poetry to a capacity crowd in the auditorium of Manchester Elementary and Middle School. His is a fine Midwestern voice: no bardic stuff. He signed books – some brought two or three which seemed an imposition to those of us back in line. What impressed me was he hung around until most had departed. No bolting for the door: he asked questions as he signed, in no hurry.
Writer’s Almanac was a great start to each day and removed because of unsubstantiated rumors! Give us a break. Keep it on the air and online
A great program. We need it. Removed without a trial – shame!
Delighted to have Writer’s Almanac available again! I belong to a Writer’s Group. Our start time was 9 a.m. on a Monday morning. We were all always 5 minutes late because we’d all been sitting in our cars outside the church where we meet, listening to Writer’s Almanac
Hiw do you submit a book for consideration for Writers Almanac?
SO PLEASED The Writer’s Almanac is back! It spontaneously showed up again, in my email, about 3 weeks ago. To those having trouble re-subscribing, my heart goes out to you; friends are having your same issues. (I do a lot of forwarding each morning!)
“WELCOME BACK, BELOVED ALMANAC!”
(That’s my horrid rhyming homage.)