Garrison Keillor, the American humorist and writer best known for hosting “A Prairie Home Companion,” has featured poems by John Updike on his website, so it’s no surprise that he thinks highly of Updike.

In an interview published today, August 7, in the New York Times Sunday Book Review, Keillor was asked about his literary heroes:

“John Updike for his vast ambition and the Lutheran diligence that realized it. Edward Hoagland for his style and bravery and love of the world. May Swenson, again for bravery, independence, also wit. A.J. Liebling and Roy Blount Jr. as reporters who wrote literature: You can read them over and over and over. P.G. Wodehouse for sheer elegance and invention. Robery Bly, a wonderful poet into his 80s, a great old troublemaker.”

The illustration is by Jillian Tamaki, and you can read the whole interview here:  “Garrison Keillor: By the Book”