National Public Radio humorist and multiple-time best-selling author David Sedaris is set to speak at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center on Sunday, Oct. 23.
A longtime Alys Stephens Center favorite, Sedaris is among the performers chosen to return for the center’s celebratory 20th anniversary season.
With his sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, Sedaris has become one of the country’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. The Chicago Tribune calls Sedaris “one of the greatest humorists writing today.” The San Francisco Chronicle declared, “Sedaris belongs on any list of people writing in English at the moment who are revising our ideas about what’s funny.”
The 7 p.m. show is in the center’s Jemison Concert Hall. Tickets are $68, $59 and $48. A limited number of $25 tickets are available for UAB students and faculty. All UAB students, faculty and staff may receive a 20 percent discount on single tickets for all shows except gala. For tickets, call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org.
Sedaris is the author of “Barrel Fever” and “Holidays on Ice,” as well as collections of personal essays “Naked,” “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim,” “When You Are Engulfed in Flames” and his most recent book, “Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls,” each of which became an immediate bestseller. The audio version of “Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls” was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. He is the author of the New York Times best-selling collection of fables “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary” (with illustrations by Ian Falconer).
Sedaris’ pieces appear regularly in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” There are a total of 10 million copies of his books in print, and they have been translated into 25 languages. Sedaris’ next book will be a collection of his diaries, “Theft By Finding,” expected out in summer 2017.