# David Sedaris
**David Sedaris** is an American humorist and essayist known for autobiographical comic essays about his family, his life as a gay man, and his years living in Europe, published in collections such as *[Me Talk Pretty One Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/me-talk-pretty-one-day)* and *Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim*[1](https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/David-Sedaris/30186189). He first reached a wide audience through radio commentaries on National Public Radio, particularly "The Santaland Diaries," an account of his stint working as an elf at Macy's[2](https://time.com/5311412/david-sedaris-calypso-interview/). He has since published 14 books, all of which have become bestsellers[3](https://www.podscan.fm/podcasts/kpfa-radio-wolinsky/episodes/david-sedaris-new-collection-of-essays-the-land-and-its-people-2026).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First book | *Barrel Fever* (1994), which included "The SantaLand Diaries"[4](https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2026/08/02/david-sedaris-at-69-i-tried-to-get-through-my-school-days-without-being-found-out-as-gay/) • [23](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/David-Sedaris/438493) |
| Best-known collection | *Me Talk Pretty One Day* (2000), named by several contemporary authors as the funniest book they had ever read[5](https://time.com/5540131/funniest-books/) • [6](https://www.vogue.com/article/david-sedaris-has-the-answer) |
| Radio breakthrough | "The Santaland Diaries" aired on NPR; he later became known for commentaries on *This American Life*[2](https://time.com/5311412/david-sedaris-calypso-interview/) • [3](https://www.podscan.fm/podcasts/kpfa-radio-wolinsky/episodes/david-sedaris-new-collection-of-essays-the-land-and-its-people-2026) |
| Diaries | Keeping a diary since 1977 at age 20; 165 volumes, mined for *Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977–2002)* and *A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003–2020)*[7](https://time.com/4800822/quick-talk-david-sedaris/) • [8](https://www.davidsedarisbooks.com/landing-page/david-sedaris-bio/) |
| Partner | Hugh Hamrick, an artist and designer, his partner since the early 1990s; a 2026 essay tells of their secret marriage[9](https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/david-sedaris) • [6](https://www.vogue.com/article/david-sedaris-has-the-answer) |
| Home | Lives in West Sussex, England, where the local council named a garbage truck after him in appreciation of his litter picking[7](https://time.com/4800822/quick-talk-david-sedaris/) |
| Latest book | *The Land and Its People* (Little, Brown and Company, May 26, 2026), a collection of 28 essays[6](https://www.vogue.com/article/david-sedaris-has-the-answer) • [4](https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2026/08/02/david-sedaris-at-69-i-tried-to-get-through-my-school-days-without-being-found-out-as-gay/) |
## Radio and early career
Sedaris started out writing fiction and doing readings in Chicago[10](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/newsletter/2026-06-13/book-club-david-sedaris-land-and-people). After "The Santaland Diaries" aired on the radio, he had a completed book waiting for a publisher to call[10](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/newsletter/2026-06-13/book-club-david-sedaris-land-and-people). [Ira Glass](https://www.edgepedia.org/ira-glass), who later created *This American Life*, produced Sedaris's stories for NPR's *Morning Edition* in the early 1990s, when stories longer than the program's eight- or nine-minute segment maximum were a recurring problem[11](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/ira-glass-hears-it-all).
The essay collections Sedaris published early in his career covered his childhood experience of undergoing speech therapy with a homophobic tone, the drug use he tried out, and the period he spent playing an elf in Santaland at Macy's[2](https://time.com/5311412/david-sedaris-calypso-interview/). Along with his sister Amy, he also wrote numerous plays under the name "The Talent Family"[12](https://lgbthistorymonth.com/sites/default/files/2010_GLBT_Bios.pdf).
## Books
His collections include *Barrel Fever*, *[Naked](https://www.edgepedia.org/naked-book)*, *Holidays on Ice*, *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*, all New York Times bestsellers[8](https://www.davidsedarisbooks.com/landing-page/david-sedaris-bio/). He has also written *Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary*, a collection of fables with illustrations by Ian Falconer, and a children's book, *Pretty Ugly*, also illustrated by Falconer[8](https://www.davidsedarisbooks.com/landing-page/david-sedaris-bio/). *The Best of Me* collects 42 previously published stories and essays[8](https://www.davidsedarisbooks.com/landing-page/david-sedaris-bio/).
Sedaris writes regularly for *The New Yorker* and [BBC Radio 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-radio-4), and his essays have appeared in *The Best American Essays*[8](https://www.davidsedarisbooks.com/landing-page/david-sedaris-bio/) • [13](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/david-sedaris/). In 2019 he became a regular contributor to *CBS Sunday Morning* and released a master class, *David Sedaris Teaches Storytelling and Humor*[14](https://calperformances.org/wp-content/uploads/program-books/2023-24/PDFs/program-book-2324-david-sedaris.pdf). The audio version of *Happy-Go-Lucky*, written and narrated by Sedaris, won the 2023 Audie Award[14](https://calperformances.org/wp-content/uploads/program-books/2023-24/PDFs/program-book-2324-david-sedaris.pdf).
**[The Land and Its People](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-land-and-its-people).** His most recent collection, published May 26, 2026, contains 28 essays on subjects including aging, the dead friends in his address book, his late mother, meeting [Pope Francis](https://www.edgepedia.org/pope-francis), and his Duolingo habit[4](https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2026/08/02/david-sedaris-at-69-i-tried-to-get-through-my-school-days-without-being-found-out-as-gay/) • [6](https://www.vogue.com/article/david-sedaris-has-the-answer). One essay tells the story of his secret marriage to Hugh Hamrick[6](https://www.vogue.com/article/david-sedaris-has-the-answer). Reviewers noted his continued appeal alongside a crankier register: [Roddy Doyle](https://www.edgepedia.org/roddy-doyle) wrote in *The New York Times* that Sedaris, approaching 70, examines aging "with the same vigour, curiosity and grim glee" that animated his earlier books[15](https://theweek.com/culture-life/books/david-sedaris-the-land-and-its-people-reviews).
## Diaries and working method
Sedaris began keeping a diary at 20 in 1977, while traveling in the United States, writing to himself because he had no fixed address for friends to reply to[7](https://time.com/4800822/quick-talk-david-sedaris/) • [16](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jun/22/g2-interview-david-sedaris-books). By 2017 he had filled 165 volumes, which he mined for *Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977–2002)*[7](https://time.com/4800822/quick-talk-david-sedaris/). A second diary volume, *A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003–2020)*, followed, and an art book of his diary covers, *David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium*, was edited by Jeffrey Jenkins[8](https://www.davidsedarisbooks.com/landing-page/david-sedaris-bio/).
He always carries a notebook and scribbles down observations that he later crafts into stories[2](https://time.com/5311412/david-sedaris-calypso-interview/). He has said he never sits down intending to write a book[6](https://www.vogue.com/article/david-sedaris-has-the-answer). He prefers essays to fiction because he can walk on stage and say "my sister and I went shopping" and the audience already knows who his sister is, without world-building[10](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/newsletter/2026-06-13/book-club-david-sedaris-land-and-people).
## Live readings
Sedaris has toured continuously for more than three decades, reading new and unpublished work in theaters across the United States and abroad, with pre- and post-show book signings[17](https://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=nx-s1-5831456) • [18](https://www.davidsedarisontour.com/). Audience members function as editors: at a reading, he tests material and revises based on what gets a laugh, so that attending a David Sedaris reading means helping him edit[17](https://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=nx-s1-5831456). His Duolingo obsession illustrates how daily life becomes material; he combined topping the app's leader table with his step count, walking 10 miles a day while reading sentences aloud in Japanese, German, Spanish, and French[19](https://www.theguardian.com/books/david-sedaris).
## Authenticity debate
In March 2007, *The New Republic* published "This American Lie" by Alex Heard, which fact-checked Sedaris's nonfiction and criticized the degree of authenticity it found, raising questions about the line between memoir and fiction and whether writing as a humorist changes the standard[20](https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/3166/Gregory-Levey-PhD-thesis.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=6). Scholars of autobiography have examined how his humorous frame and composite memoir form negotiate the problems of authenticity and authority in recent life writing[21](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265766328_The_Ethics_of_Laughter_David_Sedaris_and_Humour_Memoir).
## Influence
More than 30 years after he was first published, his influence on a generation of comic writers who read *Me Talk Pretty One Day* young is substantial; asked in one social media video about the funniest book they had ever read, the authors [Coco Mellors](https://www.edgepedia.org/coco-mellors), Rob Franklin, and Orlando Whitfield each answered, "Anything by David Sedaris"[6](https://www.vogue.com/article/david-sedaris-has-the-answer). A 2019 Time feature on the funniest books cited the speech-therapy essay from *Me Talk Pretty One Day* and the story of his brother, "the Rooster," as standouts[5](https://time.com/5540131/funniest-books/). His form has also been described as a shift in the genre: what is now called an essayist was once called a humorist, and his short, chatty, funny first-person stories about things that happened to him helped define the contemporary autobiographical comic narrative[22](https://newrepublic.com/article/112307/essay-reality-television-david-sedaris-davy-rothbart).
## References
1. [David Sedaris, Official Publisher Page, Simon & Schuster](https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/David-Sedaris/30186189)
2. [Shopping for the Perfect Shirt With Writer David Sedaris, Time](https://time.com/5311412/david-sedaris-calypso-interview/)
3. [David Sedaris, New Collection of Essays "The Land and Its People," KPFA Radio Wolinsky podcast](https://www.podscan.fm/podcasts/kpfa-radio-wolinsky/episodes/david-sedaris-new-collection-of-essays-the-land-and-its-people-2026)
4. [David Sedaris: 'I don't know how to buy a plane ticket', The Irish Times](https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2026/08/02/david-sedaris-at-69-i-tried-to-get-through-my-school-days-without-being-found-out-as-gay/)
5. [The 5 Funniest Books Ever, Time](https://time.com/5540131/funniest-books/)
6. [David Sedaris Has the Answer, Vogue](https://www.vogue.com/article/david-sedaris-has-the-answer)
7. [A Quick Talk With David Sedaris, on Reading Secret Diaries, Time](https://time.com/4800822/quick-talk-david-sedaris/)
8. [David Sedaris – Bio, David Sedaris Books](https://www.davidsedarisbooks.com/landing-page/david-sedaris-bio/)
9. [David Sedaris Biography, Biography.com](https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/david-sedaris)
10. [David Sedaris on his new book of essays, 'The Land and Its People', Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/newsletter/2026-06-13/book-club-david-sedaris-land-and-people)
11. [Ira Glass Hears It All, The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/ira-glass-hears-it-all)
12. [GLBT History Month biographies (2010)](https://lgbthistorymonth.com/sites/default/files/2010_GLBT_Bios.pdf)
13. [David Sedaris, Hachette Book Group](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/david-sedaris/)
14. [David Sedaris program book, Cal Performances 2023–24](https://calperformances.org/wp-content/uploads/program-books/2023-24/PDFs/program-book-2324-david-sedaris.pdf)
15. [David Sedaris examines ageing with 'curiosity and grim glee' in new essays, The Week](https://theweek.com/culture-life/books/david-sedaris-the-land-and-its-people-reviews)
16. [David Sedaris interview, The Guardian (2009)](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jun/22/g2-interview-david-sedaris-books)
17. [If you attend a David Sedaris reading, you're helping him edit, CapRadio/NPR](https://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=nx-s1-5831456)
18. [Summer/Fall Tour, David Sedaris official site](https://www.davidsedarisontour.com/)
19. [David Sedaris, The Guardian books coverage](https://www.theguardian.com/books/david-sedaris)
20. [Gregory Levey PhD thesis, University of St Andrews](https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/3166/Gregory-Levey-PhD-thesis.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=6)
21. [The Ethics of Laughter: David Sedaris and Humour Memoir, ResearchGate](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265766328_The_Ethics_of_Laughter_David_Sedaris_and_Humour_Memoir)
22. [The Essay as Reality Television, The New Republic](https://newrepublic.com/article/112307/essay-reality-television-david-sedaris-davy-rothbart)
23. [David Sedaris – Scholars – Britannica Kids, Encyclopedia](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/David-Sedaris/438493)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Writers and literary biographies › Biographers, critics, and specialist non-fiction writers › Memoirists and autobiographers › Personal-life and confessional memoirists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license