The following is a press release from Rachel Hood, the Bardo Arts Center marketing manager | 828.227.2505 | rhood@wcu.edu
Cullowhee, NC | The best-selling author and well-known NPR humorist, playwright, and comedian David Sedaris returns to Cullowhee for An Evening with David Sedaris. With more than 16 million copies of his books in print, Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. The Thursday, October 12th event includes a live reading of David’s latest book Happy Go Lucky, time for audience members to ask questions for the author, and book signings before and after the event. Sedaris’ books will be available for purchase at the event through the City Lights Bookstore of Sylva. David Sedaris will sign books before and after the main event! City Lights Bookstore in Sylva is the official bookseller for the event and will provide a selection of David Sedaris books for sale, along with some suggestions of books from other authors, suggested by David Sedaris himself.
David Sedaris is one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. He is a master of satire and one of today’s most observant writers. Beloved for his personal essays and short stories, David Sedaris is the author of 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 Calypso, which was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. He is the author of Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, a collection of fables with illustrations by Ian Falconer. He is also the author of an essay-length ebook titled Themes and Variations. Each of these books was an immediate bestseller. He was also the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. His pieces regularly appear in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” The first volume of his diaries Theft By Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) was a New York Times best-selling book. As a companion piece to the book, Jeffrey Jenkins published and edited an art book of Sedaris’s diary covers, entitled David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium. His book, The Best of Me, is a collection of 42 previously published stories and essays, about which novelist Andrew Sean Greer wrote in the New York Times: “You must read “The Best of Me.” It will be a new experience, knowing that enough time has passed to find humor in the hardest parts of life. More than ever — we’re allowed to laugh.” The second volume of his diaries, A Carnival of Snackery, Diaries (2003-2020) was also a New York Times bestseller, and the audiobook was selected as part of Apple’s Best Audiobooks of the Year for 2021. His newest book, Happy-Go- Lucky, debuted at number one on the New York Times best-seller list.
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, he can be heard annually on a series of live recordings on BBC Radio 4 entitled “Meet David Sedaris.” In 2019, David 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 his 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, 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.
Bardo Arts Center is excited to host An Evening with David Sedaris. Doors will open at 7:00 pm, with the event starting at 7:30 pm on Thursday, October 12. David Sedaris will sign books before and after the event in the BAC lobby. Box Office is open Tuesday-Friday from 10 am-4 pm and Thursdays from 10 am-7 pm.
Don’t forget that the WCU Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center is free to the public and is open 1 hour before all BAC Season Performances. Stop in and view our latest exhibition, Spark of the Eagle Dancer: The Collecting Legacy of Lambert Wilson. This exhibition celebrates the legacy of Lambert Wilson, a passionate collector of contemporary Native American art who encountered a beloved Cherokee sculpture as a student at Western Carolina University and decided to devote his life to supporting and encouraging Native artists.
Visit arts.wcu.edu/david-sedaris to learn more about the event and purchase tickets. All of Bardo Arts Center’s 2023-2024 Performance Hall tickets are available at arts.wcu.edu/tickets. Get your tickets before they are gone!