A bit of news for our Opinion page readers out there: This Sunday will be the last you’ll see of Garrison Keillor on the Sun’s pages for awhile.
We were notified today of his intention to take a break, during which he’ll finish a screenplay and begin writing a novel. There wasn’t a date given for him to resume writing the column, which we carry opposite George Will every Sunday and post to kitsapsun.com here. I’ve always been really pleased to have Keillor as a columnist. That’s not only because his style lets me reminisce for a moment about growing up listening to “A Prairie Home Companion” every Saturday night, but also because “The Old Scout“, whether or not you agree with his politics, added a dose of levity to a page that can become a little heavy on analysis of life in the nation’s capital.
Keillor’s syndicate has offered a mixed bag of replacement columnists, and Opinion Editor Jim Campbell and myself are hashing over those to decide whether we’ll pick one to fill the space, or trade writers for a while until we find a fit. You might remember that we lost Star Parker a few months ago as well, so maybe it’s time to reassess our line-up. I tend to be a little traditional when it comes to columnists our readers get used to, but it’s been 18 months since our last columnist shuffle and a little light housecleaning never hurt. I’ll take suggestions, but keep in mind that price, syndicate agreements and availability play a part in any decision. National newspaper columnists aren’t always marketed the same way as cafeteria food.
If you’ll miss Keillor, I’d recommend taking advantage of his absence to catch up on his novels. I read “Lake Wobegon Days” years ago, so I can’t really give an accurate review or even recall the storyline past the self-explanatory title any follower would pick up on. I read one called “Love Me” more recently, and I liked it. The character, a writer, gets out of Minnesota, gains a small bit of fame in New York, and goes through what I’d expect Garrison Keillor to have gone through when a Midwesterner comes to grips with big city life and the struggle that goes with heightened expectations. You see Keillor’s brain working as the main character thinks through life, and hear the old radio announcer’s voice on each page. Hopefully he’ll crank out that next book soon, and be back in the Sun before long.
