Garrison Keillor celebrates literary pals

Humorist Garrison Keillor is launching a five-show radio series next year on Minnesota Public Radio called “Literary Friendships.” Each show will feature two noted writers who also are close friends, discussing their craft and their relationship.

Keillor said he was inspired by famous literary companions such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, or Gertrude Stein and Thornton Wilder. “All the legends have to do with suffering solo -- the lonely, misunderstood writer,” he said. “When you find someone who is a friend to you and to your writing, it’s an enormous gift.”

The shows will be offered nationally by Minnesota Public Radio’s distribution arm, American Public Media.

Participants will include poets Robert Bly and Donald Hall; Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon and his wife, mystery writer Ayelet Waldman; poets Dana Gioia and Kay Ryan; author Sandra Cisneros and poet Joy Harjo; and Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Cunningham and poet Marie Howe.