The Writers Almanac
For the last ten years or so, I start almost every weekday morning with a cup of coffee and my feed reader. The first subscription I used to open every day was The Writers Almanac 1. I thought about it again this morning. I really enjoyed listening to it and I miss it. It was cancelled in December of last year.
The Writers Almanac webpage just says 2:
MPR has ended our contract with the company that owns the rights for production and public distribution of The Writers Almanac and MPR no longer has the rights to post the archives. MPR is proud of its 25 years of work, highlighting the art of poetry and the work of so many talented artists. Please check this page periodically on the chance we can direct you to the online archives. Thank you for enjoying the series. We appreciate your listening, reading and support.
I certainly don’t know Garrison Keillor 3 personally, but I feel like I do having listened to hundreds of episodes. I seem to believe the quote from the New York Times article 4:
“I put my hand on a woman’s bare back,” he wrote. “I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized. I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it.”Mr. Keillor claimed that they continued to be friends “right up until her lawyer called.” He insisted his discomfort with physical affection was common knowledge, adding, “If I had a dollar for every woman who asked to take a selfie with me and who slipped an arm around me and let it drift down below the beltline, I’d have at least a hundred dollars.”
Anyway, I hope the Poetry Foundation 5 can come up with a replacement. If anyone knows of any other sites that feature a daily audio reading of poetry, please let me know. It’s something about the short audio clip where I can generally surf through a couple other things as the birthdays and writer were being introduced before settling back for a small moment of mediation on the poem. I think I’ll leave the last three unread Writers Almanac items in my reader until I find a replacement.
7/14/18 – UPDATE: In April of this year Garrison started hosting his own version on his website6 and Minnesota Public Radio has reached an agreement with Garrison Keillor to restore free public access to the online archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer’s Almanac. I’m unsure why it took me four months to catch on, but I’m happy to have it back.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Writer%27s_Almanac
2. https://www.mpr.org/archive-information
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrison_Keillor
4. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/business/media/garrison-keillor-fired.html
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry_Foundation
6. http://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/