Wells Fargo Center for the Arts to Welcome Garrison Keillor, 12/3

Wells Fargo Center for the Arts presents America's foremost humorist and social pundit for An Evening with Garrison Keillor at the Ruth Finley Person Theater (50 Mark West Springs Road) in Santa Rosa for a one night only performance on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 at 8:00 pm. True to his radio form, humorist celebrity speaker Keillor shares hilarious anecdotes about growing up in the American Midwest, the people of Lake Wobegon and "late-life fatherhood" -- all delivered with his signature class, charisma and wisdom.

Tickets for An Evening with Garrison Keillor are on sale now and may be purchased for $75, $65 and $49 online at wellsfargocenterarts.org, by phone at 707.546.3600, and in person at 50 Mark West Springs Road in Santa Rosa.

Garrison Keillor began his radio career as a freshman at the University of Minnesota, graduating and going straight to work for Minnesota Public Radio in 1969, and on July 6, 1974, he hosted the first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion in St. Paul. The show ended in 1987, resumed in 1989 in New York as The American Radio Company, returned to Minnesota, and in 1993 resumed the name A Prairie Home Companion. Over 17 million listeners on more than 900 public radio stations now hear the show each week.

On the big screen, Keillor Keillor's most recent role included playing himself in the movie adaptation of his show, A Prairie Home Companion (June 2006). It features Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin as the singing Johnson sisters, Lindsay Lohan as Streep's daughter, Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly as singing cowboys Lefty and Dusty, and Tommy Lee Jones as the Axeman

Considered a master storyteller, Keillor is also the author of many books, including Lake Wobegon Days (1985); The Book of Guys (1993); The Old Man Who Loved Cheese (1996); Wobegon Boy (1997); Me: By Jimmy "Big Boy" Valente As Told to Garrison Keillor (1999); Love Me (2003); Homegrown Democrat (2004); Pontoon (2007); Liberty: A Lake Wobegon Novel (2008); and Life Among the Lutherans (2009). In 2013, Keillor released his first book of poetry called O, What a Luxury: Versus Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound. This volume is written with his characteristic combination of humor and insight on love, modernity, nostalgia, politics, religion, and other facets of daily life.

Keillor has received numerous awards, including a Grammy Award for his recording of Lake Wobegon Days. He has also received two Cable ACE Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recently was presented with a National Humanities Medal by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1994, he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame at Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Tickets for An Evening with Garrison Keillor are on sale now and may be purchased for $75, $65 and $49 online at wellsfargocenterarts.org, by phone at 707.546.3600, and in person at 50 Mark West Springs Road in Santa Rosa.

About Wells Fargo Center for the Arts - A 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and events center, Wells Fargo Center for the Arts is home to world-class performances, nationally recognized education programs, contemporary visual art, and many popular civic events. The Arts Center is located in the heart of the Sonoma wine country and ranked among California's top performing arts presenters. Together with its resident companies, the Center presents more than 100 performances in music, dance, theater, renowned speakers, and comedy; provides education programs serving 30,000 children and adults; and hosts more than 1,000 community events a year. Owned and operated by the Luther Burbank Memorial Foundation, the Center relies on charitable community donations to achieve its mission -- to enrich, educate, and entertain. www.wellsfargocenterarts.org.