David Sedaris

David Sedaris

David Sedaris is an American writer and humourous essayist known for autobiographical, self-deprecating work that draws on his family life, Greek heritage, a series of jobs, his education, and his life in France with his boyfriend Hugh. He is born in 1956 in the United States, was born in Binghamton, New York, and is raised in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Writing and radio

Sedaris works as a radio contributor and writes essays and short fiction. His first book is Barrel Fever (1994), and later collections include Naked (1996) and Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000). Several of his books reach number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for nonfiction, including Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004).

He is a frequent contributor to This American Life, as well as to Esquire and The New Yorker. His writing also includes work on obsessive-compulsive disorder, which he describes in the short story “A Plague of Tics.”

Education and other work

Sedaris drops out of Kent State University in 1977 and later graduates from the Art Institute of Chicago. In his teens and twenties, he also pursues visual and performance art, and he writes about his lack of success in several essays.

He is also a playwright. With his sister, actor Amy Sedaris, he writes several plays under the name The Talent Family, including Stump the Host (1993), Stitches (1994), One Woman Shoe (1995), The Little Frieda Mysteries (1997), and The Book of Liz. He also co-authors Incident at Kobblers Knob, which is presented and produced by David Rockwell at the Lincoln Center Festival.

Recognition

In 2001, Sedaris is named Humorist of the Year by Time magazine and receives the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Wayne Wang options Me Talk Pretty One Day for a film, but Sedaris declines to continue with the project because of concerns about his family and how they might be portrayed.

Other material

He has German audiobooks.