At Last: New Sedaris

The wait is almost over. David Sedaris’s new book, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, will be released on June 1.

Apropos of this wonderful news, I bring you an article on the roots of Sedaris’s storytelling and personal subject matter (link via Maud):

Competitive storytelling was a skill David Sedaris learned in a household of six children. Everyone wanted their mother’s attention, but if their after-school stories went on too long she complained: “You are boring me to death.” “You had to be fast, efficient and as interesting as possible,” says Sedaris. “Saying the teacher had slapped Mike, even if it didn’t happen, was more interesting than going on endlessly about some minor dispute.”As an adult, Sedaris has turned storytelling into a career and his relatives into subject matter. Before his second book of personal essays, Naked, came out in 1997 every family member had to sign a form saying they wouldn’t sue him. Since then they haven’t bothered with legalities. Readers are familiar with his grouchy, penny-pinching, Greek-American father, his acid-tongued, chain-smoking mother, his rap-talking brother, “The Rooster”, and his four talented, eccentric sisters. “They’re really good sports about it,” he says.

I expect a great many stories on this familiar cast of characters in the forthcoming book, especially after hearing the sneak peak of recent readings of new stories that will presumably be included. I can’t decide which version I want more, the audio CD or hardcover. Perhaps I’ll just skip the decision and get both.

More on my ongoing Sedaris obsession here and here.

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