Popular Humorist David Sedaris to Perform at Yaddo

David Sedaris

Saratoga Springs, NY (May 3, 2005) - Bestselling Yaddo author and humorist David Sedaris, a skilled satirist who plays to sold-out crowds nationwide, will lend his special brand of entertainment to the Yaddo Summer Benefit in an 8 p.m. Thursday, June 30th, performance at the Yaddo Mansion in Saratoga Springs.

Mr. Sedaris made his comic debut on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, recounting the strange but true experience of his job as a Macy’s elf clad in green tights in a reading of his essay “SantaLand Diaries.” He is now one of NPR’s most popular commentators and has achieved widespread recognition for his sardonic wit and incisive social critique that keeps readers and audiences in stitches.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in hardcover last summer and remained on the list for four months, is Mr. Sedaris’ latest book. He also is the author of the critically acclaimed Me Talk Pretty One Day, first published in 2000 and still (for 80 weeks and counting) on the New York Times bestseller list in paperback. Mr. Sedaris’ other hit collections of personal nonfiction essays include Naked, Barrel Fever, and Holidays on Ice. The paperback edition of Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is coming out in June. Most recently, Mr. Sedaris edited a short fiction collection, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories, which debuted in April. His books have been translated into 23 languages. He was a guest artist at Yaddo in 1995.

Mr. Sedaris, Time magazine’s “Humorist of the Year” in 2001, was nominated for two Grammy Awards this year, for Best Spoken Word Album (Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim) and Best Comedy Album (David Sedaris: Live at Carnegie Hall). Harvard Lampoon recently awarded him the “Wheelwright Prize for Excellence in Humor Writing” and he won a 2005 Audie Award in the humor category for David Sedaris: Live at Carnegie Hall. The audio editions of his books are consistently nominated for Audie Awards. Mr. Sedaris also is the recipient of a Lambda Literary Award for Humor and was the third winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Collaborating under the name “The Talent Family,” Mr. Sedaris and his sister, Amy, have written several plays, including Stump the Host, Stitches, the Obie Award winning One Woman Shoe, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatist’s Play Service.

The Yaddo Summer Benefit is an annual event that raises money for Yaddo’s artist residency program, which hosts approximately 200 creative professionals a year. This year’s fundraiser is organized by a Benefit Committee chaired by Deborah H. Lowe. John M. Forester is Chair of the Corporate Committee.

Tickets for the 2005 Yaddo Summer Benefit are $200 (Honorary Patron), $175 (Special Patron), and $150 (Patron). The 2005 Yaddo Summer Benefit is sold out. For additional information, please contact Lynn Farenell. For a preview of Mr. Sedaris’ wit, catch him on CBS’s Late Show With David Letterman June 22. Please see the online “Yaddo Artist’s Calendar” or click here for Mr. Sedaris’ upcoming readings and book signings across the country.