Bestselling humorist David Sedaris delivers free talk and book signing at Scranton Cultural Center on April 6
From a press release:
The Lackawanna County Library System has announced that bestselling author and humorist David Sedaris is 2020’s American Masters Lecture speaker in its Matthew F. Flynn Library Lecture Series.
Sedaris is the author of 11 collections of essays, many of which appeared first in The New Yorker. The titles of his books alone suggest the wit to be found within – “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,” and “Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002)” – and each became an immediate bestseller.
He will be speaking at the Scranton Cultural Center (420 N. Washington Ave., Scranton) on Monday, April 6 at 7 p.m. The event is free with a Lackawanna County Library System library card.
Sedaris will be signing books following his lecture. Books will be available for purchase on the night of the event, courtesy of the Library Express Bookstore at The Marketplace at Steamtown.
Starting this Wednesday, Feb. 5, physical tickets for the lecture will be available exclusively at all Lackawanna County libraries until Friday, Feb. 20. Tickets will then be distributed online as well starting Friday, Feb. 21 at lclshome.org.
With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today.
In addition to his bestselling books of essays, he is also the author of the New York Times bestselling collection of fables entitled “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary,” with illustrations by Ian Falconer. He was also the editor of “Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories.” Sedaris’ pieces appear regularly in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” There are over 10 million copies of his books in print, and they have been translated into 25 languages.
He and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen plays which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include “Stump the Host,” “Stitches,” “One Woman Shoe” (which received an Obie Award), “Incident at Cobbler’s Knob,” and “The Book of Liz,” which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service.
In addition to articles and books, David Sedaris has gained an audience through his commentaries on “CBS Sunday Morning,” and his voice become known on NPR. His original radio pieces can often be heard on the public radio show “This American Life.” He has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. A feature film adaptation of his story “C.O.G.” was released after a premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
Since 2011, he can be heard annually on a series of live recordings on BBC Radio 4 entitled “Meet David Sedaris.” A collection of his diaries, entitled “Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002),” was released in 2017. An art book about Sedaris’ diary covers was also published and edited by Jeffrey Jenkins, entitled “David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium.”
His most recent collection of essays, “Calypso,” published in 2018, was a New York Times bestseller and a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. The audiobook was nominated for a 2019 Grammy Award in the Best Spoken Word Album category. A second volume of his diaries is expected in the summer of 2021.
The San Francisco Chronicle said, “Sedaris belongs on any list of people writing in English at the moment who are revising our ideas about what’s funny.”
