David Sedaris

David Sedaris is a Grammy Award-nominated American humorist, comedian, radio contributor, and author. According to his website, more than ten million copies of his books are in print, translated into 25 languages.

David Sedaris was Born in Johnson City, New York. He grew up in a Greek-American family in Raleigh, North Carolina. Sedaris attended Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, where he studied art and then switched to English. After college, David moved to Chicago to pursue a career in writing and performance.

Sedaris began as a radio host and humorist in 1992. He was discovered by radio host Ira Glass while reading a diary he had kept since 1977 at a Chicago club. Glass was impressed with Sedaris' work and invited him to appear on his weekly local program, The Wild Room. This opportunity led to Sedaris' NPR debut on Morning Edition with Santaland Diaries, a radio piece about his experiences as an elf at Macy's during Christmas in New York.

The essay was a hit and made Sedaris a "minor phenomenon," according to The New York Times. He began hosting monthly shows for NPR and signed a two-book publishing contract with Little, Brown and Company.

Sedaris published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. Each of his four subsequent essay collections, Naked (1997), 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) have become New York Times Best Sellers.

His most recent work, the essay collection Calypso, was published in June 2018.

Much of Sedaris' humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating. It often concerns his family life, his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, his Greek heritage, various jobs, education, drug use, and homosexuality.

Sedaris has written for The New Yorker, Esquire, and The Paris Review. Also he has been a frequent contributor to This American Life. In addition to his writing, he has worked as a playwright and actor and has performed his one-man shows in theaters worldwide.

David Sedaris currently lives in West Sussex, England, with his partner, painter Hugh Hamrick.

Photo credit: www.davidsedarisbooks.com