"An Evening with David Sedaris"

One of America’s most beloved essayists, David Sedaris has built a devoted following with his sharp observation, self-deprecating wit, and uncanny ability to find both absurdity and tenderness in everyday life.

A frequent contributor to The New Yorker and the bestselling author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, Calypso, and Happy-Go-Lucky, Sedaris brings his distinctive voice and storytelling to the stage in an evening of live readings and reflections.

With impeccable timing and a gift for understatement, he keeps the room feeling spontaneous, mischievous, and delightfully unpredictable.

About the Author

Beloved for his personal essays and short stories, David Sedaris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. The audio version of Happy-Go-Lucky, written and narrated by Sedaris, won the 2023 Audie Award. His book, The Best of Me, collects 42 previously published stories and essays. Sedaris also wrote Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, a collection of fables with illustrations by Ian Falconer. His newest book of essays is The Land and Its People (Back Bay Books, May 2026).

Sedaris writes regularly for The New Yorker, and his essays have been included in The Best American Essays. The two volumes of his diaries, Theft By Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) and A Carnival of Snackery, Diaries (2003-2020) were New York Times bestsellers. An art book of Sedaris’s diary covers, David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium, was edited by Jeffrey Jenkins. He is the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. His first children's book, Pretty Ugly, illustrated by Ian Falconer, received a ‘star’ review from Kirkus. His newest children's book, The Selfish Sister (Astra/TOON Books, March 2026), features illustrations by Bob Staake.

Sedaris 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).  

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 a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (2013). Since 2011 his show, Meet David Sedaris, has been on BBC Radio 4. In 2026 Meet David Sedaris was a finalist for the BBC Audio Drama Awards. In 2019 Sedaris became a regular contributor to CBS Sunday Morning, and his MasterClass, David Sedaris Teaches Storytelling and Humor, was released.

There are over 16 million copies of Sedaris' books in print, and they have been translated into 32 languages. He has been awarded the Terry Southern Prize for Humor, Thurber Prize for American Humor, Jonathan Swift International Literature Prize for Satire and Humor, and Time 2001 Humorist of the Year Award, as well as the Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In March 2019 he was elected as a member into 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 Sedaris was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Literature degree by the University of Chichester.

About The Land and Its People

In his latest work, The Land and Its People, Sedaris reflects on what it means to be a foreigner, a brother, a lifelong friend. He tries on the role of caretaker after his boyfriend Hugh’s hip-replacement surgery, and both succeeds and fails. He buys his sister a cape and discusses his brother with a jaded Duolingo bot. He walks dozens of miles with his friend Dawn and challenges her to eat a truck tire. Ever adding to his list of “Countries I Have Been To,” he rides a horse named Tequila in Guatemala, buys a bespoke priest’s cassock in Vatican City, and goes on safari in Kenya without taking a single photo.

There is sadness here — scrolling through his address book, he realizes how many dear friends are now deceased — but also delight: he revels in authors’ biographies, the malapropism that becomes a decades-long inside joke, and pair of well-made cotton underpants. He is bitten by a dog. A train passenger vomits in his face. A woman on the street late at night either sexually harasses him or doesn’t. Look how hard it is to be alive!

Throughout these essays — at once acerbic and tender, playful and profound — Sedaris shows how much there is to marvel at when you keep your head up and your eyes open, observing with warmth and curiosity this fascinating human species and the lands we inhabit.

Sedaris first appeared at the center in 2014.

Photos by Anne Fishbein and Jenny Lewis

* Run times listed here are based on information provided at this time and are subject to change.