David Sedaris

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David Sedaris (born December 26, 1956) is an American humorist and radio contributor. Much of his humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating, and it often concerns his family life, Greek heritage, various jobs, education, and his life in France with his partner, Hugh.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Odd jobs and The SantaLand Diaries 1.3 Best-selling author 2 Criticism 3 Awards and accolades 4 The Talent Family 5 Selected works 6 Episodes of This American Life featuring David Sedaris 7 External links 8 References

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Sedaris was born in Binghamton, New York, and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He dropped out of Kent State University in 1977, and ten years later graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago. (He did not attend Princeton University, although he spoke fondly of doing so in a comic baccalaureate address delivered at Princeton June 2006.) In his teens and twenties, he dabbled in visual and performance art. His lack of success was described in several of his essays.

[edit] Odd jobs and The SantaLand Diaries

After working a string of odd jobs across Raleigh, Chicago and New York City, Sedaris achieved prominence with the radio essay "The SantaLand Diaries," describing his experiences working as an elf at Macy's department store during Christmas time in New York. The piece aired in 1992 on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and was broadcast in the UK on Radio 4 in 1996. It was also featured in his book Holidays on Ice.

[edit] Best-selling author

His first book, Barrel Fever (1994), was a collection of essays and short fiction. Naked (1996) and Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000) are also compilations of his essays. Several of his books, including Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004) have hit #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list for Nonfiction. All of the audio editions of his books are read by Sedaris himself (and often his sister Amy Sedaris as well), and he is a frequent contributor to the PRI/Chicago Public Radio show This American Life, as well as Esquire and The New Yorker.

Although Wayne Wang optioned his book Me Talk Pretty One Day for a movie, Sedaris declined to proceed with the project out of concern for his family and how they might be portrayed on screen.

During a Chicago Public Radio pledge drive on March 24, 2006, This American Life host Ira Glass revealed that Sedaris's next book would consist of fables about animals. Sedaris also recently read several of his short stories during a US book tour and confirmed his interest in writing from the perspective of animals. Several of his animal fables have been published in the The New Yorker.

[edit] Criticism

Some have alleged that Sedaris' works of nonfiction are actually fiction. Alex Heard, an editor of Outside Magazine fact-checked Sedaris' books and alleges in an article in The New Republic that some of what Sedaris describes as true events actually never happened.^[1] The importance of these findings is subject to debate, however, as many reactions to the article indicate that Sedaris' readers claim to be aware that his descriptions and stories are intentionally exaggerated and manipulated to maximize comic effect. ^[2][3][4]

[edit] Awards and accolades

In 2001, he was named "Humorist of the Year" by Time and he received the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

[edit] The Talent Family

Sedaris is a playwright, having authored with his sister, actor Amy Sedaris, several plays under the name "The Talent Family." These include Stump the Host (1993), Stitches (1994), The Little Frieda Mysteries (1997), and The Book of Liz (2002). All were produced and presented by Meryl Vladimer when she was the artistic director of "the CLUB" at La MaMa E.T.C. Sedaris also co-authored Incident at Cobbler's Knob, which was presented and produced by David Rockwell at the Lincoln Center Festival. Sets for those performances were designed by Sedaris's longtime partner, Hugh Hamrick, who also directed two of them, The Book of Liz and Incident at Cobbler's Knob.

[edit] Selected works

• Sedaris (1994). Barrel Fever. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-575-40073-0 (UK)
• Sedaris (1997). Naked. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-316-77949-0 (USA)
• Sedaris (1997). Holidays on Ice: Stories. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-316-77923-7 (USA)
• Sedaris (1998). Santaland Diaries & Seasons Greetings: 2 Plays. Dramatists Play Service Inc ISBN 0-8222-1631-0
• Sedaris (2000). Me Talk Pretty One Day. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-349-11391-2 (UK)
• Sedaris (2002). The David Sedaris Box Set [UNABRIDGED]. Time Warner Audio Major; Unabridged edition ISBN 1-58621-434-9
• Sedaris with Amy Sedaris (2002). The Book of Liz. Unknown ISBN 0-8222-1827-5
• Sedaris (2004). Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-316-14346-4
• Sedaris (2005). Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules. (editor) ISBN 0-7432-7394-X

[edit] Episodes of This American Life featuring David Sedaris

[edit] External links

• This American Life
• Information (including appearance schedule) from The Steven Barclay Agency
• Antonella Gambotto-Burke on David Sedaris
• Sedaris interview, June 2005
• Selected NPR works
• 826 NYC publications - Part of the proceeds from Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules benefits 826 NYC (a literacy center in Brooklyn).
• "Suitable for Framing" - New Yorker, February 27, 2006
• "Memento Mori" - New Yorker, May 8, 2006
• "What I Learned" - Princeton University baccalaureate-service address, New Yorker, June 26, 2006
• "Old Faithful" - New Yorker, November 29, 2004.
• "Our Perfect Summer" - New Yorker, June 16, 2003.
• "Let It Snow" - New Yorker, December 22, 2003.
• "It's Catching" - New Yorker, August 1, 2001.
• January Magazine Interview with David Sedaris - June 2000.
• "Me Talk Pretty One Day" Chapter One excerpt - from Hachete Book Group USA.
• Paul Sedaris "The Rooster" website.
• "Santaland Diaries" - from This American Life episode 47 (1996) previously broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition in 1992.
• "The Birds" - New Yorker, January 29, 2007

[edit] References