David Sedaris facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Sedaris
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Sedaris at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2018
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| Born | David Raymond Sedaris December 26, 1956 Johnson City, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BA) |
| Genre | Humor, essays |
| Notable awards | Thurber Prize for American Humor American Academy of Arts and Letters |
| Partner | Hugh Hamrick |
| Relatives | Amy Sedaris (sister) |
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David Raymond Sedaris (born December 26, 1956) is a famous American humorist, author, and radio personality. He became well-known in 1992 when his essay "Santaland Diaries" was broadcast on National Public Radio. His first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, was published in 1994. His book Naked (1997) was the first of many of his books to become a New York Times Bestseller. In 2000, his collection Me Talk Pretty One Day won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
Much of Sedaris's humor comes from his own life and experiences. He often writes about his family, growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina, his Greek background, his jobs, and his life in different places like France and England. He is the brother of actress Amy Sedaris, and they have worked together on writing projects. In 2019, Sedaris was chosen to be a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a group that honors important artists and writers.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Sedaris was born in Johnson City, New York. His mother, Sharon Elizabeth, was of English-American background, and his father, Louis Harry "Lou" Sedaris, was an engineer whose parents came from Greece. David was raised in the Greek Orthodox faith.
When David was young, his family moved to a suburban area of Raleigh, North Carolina, where he grew up as the second oldest of six children. His siblings are Lisa, Gretchen, Amy, Tiffany, and Paul.
After finishing high school in Raleigh, Sedaris attended Western Carolina University and later Kent State University, though he did not complete his studies there. In his teenage years and twenties, David explored visual art and performance art. He has written in his essays about his early experiences trying to become an artist. In 1983, Sedaris moved to Chicago and graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1987.
Career Highlights
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While working various jobs in different cities, David Sedaris was discovered by radio host Ira Glass in a Chicago club. Sedaris was reading from his personal diary, which he had kept since 1977. Glass was impressed and invited him to appear on his local radio show, The Wild Room. Sedaris has said that he owes a lot to Ira Glass for changing his life.
Sedaris's success on The Wild Room led to his first appearance on National Public Radio (NPR) on December 23, 1992. He read an essay called "Santaland Diaries" on the show Morning Edition. This essay described his funny experiences working as an elf at a department store during Christmas in New York.
"Santaland Diaries" was very popular with listeners and made Sedaris well-known. He began recording a monthly segment for NPR, which was based on his diary entries. He also signed a book deal to publish two books.
Popular Books and Achievements
In 1994, Sedaris published Barrel Fever, a collection of stories and essays. He became a regular contributor to This American Life, a weekly radio show hosted by Ira Glass, which started in 1995. Sedaris also began writing essays for magazines like Esquire and The New Yorker. In 1997, he published another collection of essays, Naked.
Naked and his next four essay collections became New York Times Best Sellers. These books include Holidays on Ice (1997), Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004), and When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2008).
Me Talk Pretty One Day was mostly written in France and was published in 2000 to great reviews. For this book, Sedaris won the 2001 Thurber Prize for American Humor. There was a plan to make a movie based on Me Talk Pretty One Day, but Sedaris decided to stop the project because he and his sister were concerned about how their family might be shown in the film.
In 2004, Sedaris's book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim reached number 1 on The New York Times Nonfiction Best Seller List. The audiobook version of Dress Your Family, read by Sedaris himself, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. He was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for his recording Live at Carnegie Hall.
In 2010, he released a collection of stories called Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary. Sedaris published another collection of essays, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, in 2013. In 2017, he released Theft By Finding, which was a collection of his diary entries from 1977 to 2002. Also in 2013, an essay from his book Naked was made into a movie called C.O.G..
Sedaris has been a frequent guest on the late-night talk show The Late, Late Show. In 2012, he joined the show's cast in Scotland for a special week of episodes. He also appeared as a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race and was a guest on the TV series FishCenter Live. Sedaris also lent his voice to the animated comedy-drama series BoJack Horseman, playing the mother of Princess Carolyn.
In 2019, Sedaris was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A collection of his best essays and short stories, titled The Best of Me, was released in November 2020. In 2022, he published Happy Go Lucky, where he wrote about his relationship with his father, who had recently passed away.
Writing Style and Reality
Some discussions have taken place about how much of David Sedaris's "nonfiction" work is completely factual. Many people believe that Sedaris often exaggerates or changes details in his stories to make them funnier, and that his readers understand this. Publishers sometimes have different ideas about what counts as "nonfiction."
NPR, for example, labels some of Sedaris's stories, like "Santaland Diaries," as fiction. Other shows, like This American Life, try to check the facts in stories, as much as possible when dealing with memories and old conversations. The New Yorker magazine also checks the facts in nonfiction stories written for them.
The Talent Family
David Sedaris has written several plays with his sister, actress Amy Sedaris. They call themselves "The Talent Family." Their plays include Stump the Host (1993), Stitches (1994), One Woman Shoe (1995), and The Little Frieda Mysteries (1997). Their play The Book of Liz (2001) was also produced in New York.
Contributions to The New Yorker
Sedaris has written more than 40 essays for The New Yorker magazine and its blog.
Personal Life
David Sedaris lives with his long-term partner, Hugh Hamrick, who is a painter and set designer. They met in New York City in 1991. In 1998, they moved to France together, and later to England. Sedaris often mentions Hugh in his stories.
Sedaris currently divides his time between Rackham, West Sussex, England, and New York City. He also bought a beach house in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, in 2013. Many of the stories in his 2018 book Calypso are set there.
Sedaris is known for spending many hours picking up litter from roads near his home in Rackham. Because of this hobby, people in the area sometimes call him "Pig Pen," and a local waste vehicle has even been named after him.
See also
In Spanish: David Sedaris para niños
