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About
David Sedaris is one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers, a master of satire and one of today’s most observant writers.
Beloved for his personal essays and short stories, Sedaris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, Calypso, and Happy-Go-Lucky. The audio version of Happy-Go-Lucky, written and narrated by Sedaris, won the 2023 Audie Award. The Best of Me collects 42 previously published stories and essays. He also wrote Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, a collection of fables illustrated by Ian Falconer. His new book, The Land and Its People, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Publishers Weekly said its essays “are among the best of his career,” while Kirkus called him “a national treasure.”
Sedaris writes regularly for The New Yorker, and his essays have been included in The Best American Essays. His two volumes of diaries, Theft By Finding: Diaries (1977–2002) and A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003–2020), were New York Times bestsellers. David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium, an art book of Sedaris’s diary covers, was edited by Jeffrey Jenkins. Sedaris edited Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. His children’s book Pretty Ugly, illustrated by Ian Falconer, received a “star” review from Kirkus. His new children’s book The Selfish Sister (Astra/TOON Books, March 17, 2026), illustrated by Bob Staake, also received a “star” review from Kirkus.
Sedaris and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated as “The Talent Family,” writing half a dozen plays produced at La MaMa, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. Their plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, published in book form by Dramatists Play Service.
Sedaris has been nominated for five Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His audio recordings include David Sedaris: Live for Your Listening Pleasure and David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall. A feature film adaptation of his story C. O. G. was released after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. His show Meet David Sedaris has been on BBC Radio 4 since 2011. In 2026, Meet David Sedaris won the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Stand Up or Sketch Comedy. In 2019, Sedaris became a regular contributor to CBS Sunday Morning, and his Masterclass, David Sedaris Teaches Storytelling and Humor, was released.
More than 16 million copies of his books are in print, and they have been translated into 32 languages. His awards include the Terry Southern Prize for Humor, the Thurber Prize for American Humor, the Jonathan Swift International Literature Prize for Satire and Humor, Time’s 2001 Humorist of the Year Award, and the Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In March 2019, he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2020, the New York Public Library voted Me Talk Pretty One Day one of the 125 most important books of the last 125 years. In 2025, he received an Honorary Doctor of Literature degree from the University of Chichester.
Follow David on Facebook at www.facebook.com/davidsedaris or visit his official website at http://www.davidsedarisbooks.com/.