A View Inside the World of Garrison Keillor

Erika Larsen photographed Garrison Keillor’s hometown for There’s No Place Like Home,” a personal narrative written by Keillor for the February 2014 issue of National Geographic magazine.

It was my first contact with Garrison and the start of my journey into his life. It would begin in October before the days got short and cold in the Twin Cities. I wanted to explore his memories, his past, to search for his ghosts, familiar and distant. I would use his words as a map. To try and understand Garrison I had to start from the beginning. Discover his childhood, his family, and his first dwellings.

I would visit his hometown, his family cemetery and relatives. I would attend several “meetings”—what church services

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