Author
David Sedaris
Birth Date
December 26, 1956
(69 Years)
Associated Country
United States
David Sedaris is an American humorist, essayist, and radio contributor known for his sharp observational writing and autobiographical storytelling. He was born in Johnson City and raised in North Carolina. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked a variety of jobs, including housecleaning, teaching, and carpentry.
Sedaris first gained public attention in 1992 when he read his essay “SantaLand Diaries” on National Public Radio, which led to his first book deal. He is best known for essay collections such as Me Talk Pretty One Day, Naked, and Calypso, which blend humor with reflections on family life, identity, and everyday absurdities.
His writing is characterized by wit, self-deprecating humor, and a distinctive narrative voice. Sedaris is widely regarded as one of the most popular contemporary essayists in the English language, with a strong international readership.
Sedaris first gained public attention in 1992 when he read his essay “SantaLand Diaries” on National Public Radio, which led to his first book deal. He is best known for essay collections such as Me Talk Pretty One Day, Naked, and Calypso, which blend humor with reflections on family life, identity, and everyday absurdities.
His writing is characterized by wit, self-deprecating humor, and a distinctive narrative voice. Sedaris is widely regarded as one of the most popular contemporary essayists in the English language, with a strong international readership.
Books
In The Land and Its People, Sedaris investigates what it means to be a traveler, a brother, a lifelong friend. Trying on the role of caretaker after his boyfriend Hugh’s hip-replacement surgery, he...
Happy-Go-Lucky 2023
Back when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask—or not—was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, he...
If it’s navel-gazing you’re after, you’ve come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, David Sedaris's observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between...
The Best of Me 2021
For more than twenty-five years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned to the world outside. It opens our eyes...
Calypso 2019
If you've ever laughed your way through David Sedaris's cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you're getting with Calypso. You'd be wrong.
When he buys a beach house on the...
Theft by Finding 2018
For forty years, David Sedaris has kept a diary in which he records everything that captures his attention-overheard comments, salacious gossip, soap opera plot twists, secrets confided by total...
A guy walks into a bar car and ...
From here the story could take many turns. When the guy is legendary essayist David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he...
Holidays on Ice 2010
David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favorites as the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two...
In this hilarious volume, Sedaris proceeds from the bizarre conundrums of daily life—having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane or armoring the windows with LP...
David Sedaris is an exceptional reader. Alone in his apartment, he reads stories aloud to the point he has them memorized. Sometimes he fantasizes that he wrote them. Sometimes, when they’re his very...
Sedaris's move to Paris in the early aughts inspired hilarious pieces, such as "Me Talk Pretty One Day", about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration—"You Cant Kill the...
Naked 1998
Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked, Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, his family, and...
Barrel Fever 1995
A do-it-yourself suburban dad saves money by performing home surgery. A man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of the world. A teenage suicide tries to incite a lynch mob at her...