This is a quiet little show hosted by Garrison Keillor. Five minutes long, Monday through Friday, it talks about writers and other artists including musicians and painters, celebrating births and noting the deaths of luminaries, offering biographical information and interesting anecdotes and tales of vocabulary. Each episodes ends with Keillor reading a poem, followed by a plea to “Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.” A sweet, sentimental piano piece plays Keillor in and out, setting the tone and taking you away from the world for a while, then gently bringing you back.
If my local NPR station broadcasts it, it’s not at a time when I’m listening. It would be easy to miss, given its brevity. For me it’s a coffee break, something to listen to while sipping a freshly poured cup, letting Keillor’s steady voice lull me into a sense of tranquility and lowering my blood pressure. It is a honeyed oasis in my day. I will sometimes put on my archives of old episodes as background noise, simply for the mood it sets, when it’s appropriate to the sorts of things I’m writing.
My radio alarm is timed to wake me with The Writer’s Almanac during the week. It’s a gentle way to transition out of sleep and it gets the brain working in a, “Huh. I didn’t know that,” kind of way.
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