Byran Bedder / Getty
Author of a number of hilariously absurd memoirs—Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim—bestselling author David Sedaris returns with his latest, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, out in bookstores June 3. Use the form below to submit your questions for David Sedaris, then look for the upcoming interview in TIME.
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10 Questions for David Sedaris
His hilarious essays book earned him a devoted following. His latest, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, is out now
What’s you methodology to keep each week new, unique, and captivating?
Who is your favorite comedian?
What is your process for editing your work? How do you go from ideas to paper?
Has your time living in France affected your attitude towards your upbringing in America, which you’ve written about extensively in your prior works?
When you write, is there any specific message or feeling you are trying to convey to the reader (or is mostly just story telling), and if so do you think that readers of our time are able to understand what you’re trying to show?
Hello David,
Do you ever feel like a stranger in your own life, what with the writerly compulsion to continually “get it down” while it’s happening, as though you were more of an observer than the subject of your experience?
Do you feel that self expression through comedy has improved your outlook on the mental health of the nation? In other words, are we less firghtening (or frightened) when we recognize ourselves through you?
How do you think graphic design and typography effects your books. Or maybe how they are perceived.
How has your family reacted to having their often revealing exploits included in your memoirs?
You seem to reflect so much on your relationship with your siblings in your books. If you believe you have an especially close bond with them, do you think it is because of something your parents did or did not do?
Did you ever think of becoming a Speech Therapist after your own experiece as a child in school?
I have seen you “perform” previously in Morristown and one of the question that arose while watching was, when you decide to tell this story what goes through your mind? In essence you have an event (the neighbor in NYC), when you get down to how the story is going to be told do you add in more description to make it funnier or is it based more on the event itself and how absurd it is?
How did you go about getting your first book deal and how did the transition to writing as a professional affect your work and your process?
“Go Carolina” is one of my favorite essays of yours; do you have a favorite from your own work?
What’s your high score in Dig Dug?
As a teacher of high school students, what advice would you offer me to offer them about surviving the ever present drama in their lives?
I am a huge fan of your writing and also of your sister Amy’s acting. Would you ever consider doing a movie or a television show with your sister?
When are you and Amy going to collaborate on a screenplay?
You and your sister(Amy) are so talented and funny, what was there about your family that produced such gifted children?
David, Did you realize, as you were growing up and living it, that your life was would make others laugh? Or only as an adult make that realization? By the way, how’s your dad?
Stop Drop and Roll out the Candy Colored Clown.
I have admired and share the prospectives you display, each piece that goes to print. we have met through Paul, and while i find the humor to be nostalgic for a live i never lived. Younger people seem to not get the subtle dry bits (which i consider to be icing) but It seems i have to put Mitch Hedberg on to get a response, How much thought do you put in to expanding your base readership in the particular project?
What was the best Christmas present that you have ever received?
David,
I’ve had the pleasure of hearing your Billie Holiday impersonation - can you do Nina Simone or maybe Sarah Vaughan or any other famous singers?
I bet you’d be great at Peggy Lee!
Thanks,
Chris
What do you have against my friend Larry? What did he ever do to you? The stuff you said in the New Yorker piece about Camel cigarettes, bad poetry, and procrastination - well, it was all true, but why did you have to be so cruel about it?
I heard you quit smoking and that a large part of your upcoming book is about the quitting experience. Have you remained smoke free?
David, will you be on tour any time soon? Do you have any upcomming stories for This American Life?
If you’d never met Ira Glass and gotten your start on This American Life where’d do you think you’d be right now? Were you determined to become a writer?
You have a gift for turning the seemingly mundane into amazingly entertaining essays and commentary. You’re also very candid about your personal life in your books. Is there anything you consider to be off-limits in your writing?
If you could keep any animal as a pet, domesticated or otherwise, what would it be?
Are you and Augusten Burrough’s friends?
What is the one question you are hoping no one will ask you?
Are you ever Jealous of your sister Amy? Do you two compete?
Does the ‘biting wit’ just happen as you write it down or do you write a little and then play with it a little?
Can we get together so I can laugh out loud? I also live in a really cool place (Siena) that you would like. I can get off work whenever you can come.
Do you ever write fiction?
As a writer, you have honestly been my greatest influence. Who has been the greatest influence on your writing and why?
What is the best advice you ever got? Did you take it?
..I think your next book title name will be, “the cash cow went jump out from the fence”….When you will making movie together with Steven and Burt..??…Did they asked to buy your book yet..??.. Did they want to make movie in your place or their place…??…Ha..Ha..Ha..
..How much you want $$$$ on your next book and another, and another..??…Did you like our Barbara Wawa book..??…Did you like our TMZ shots..It funny, didn’t they..Just kidding,…Ho..Ho…Ho..
Do you ever think about quitting smoking? Why or why not?
Do you feel like humor writing, at least in book form, is severely lacking? If so, why?
The NY Times once called you “a minor phenomenon”. Do you aspire to becoming “major” or is mediocrity sufficiently satisifying for now?
What’s the best advise can you give to other aspiring writers?
Bonjour! Did you finally manage to speak a ‘proper’ French?
I always realized that some of your anecdotes were a bit exaggerated, but I’ve recently found out that some of them are complete albeit wonderful concoctions from your imagination. Which are fact and which are fiction?
“Geography is destiny” how can your work relate or NOt ?
Your singular relationship with your mother seems to have played a large part in helping you cope with the difficulties of your gay boyhood and young adulthood. “Hegira” stands out in my mind as a story that illustrates this complex relationship. How do you see her role, as a parent and a confidant, in your formative realizations about your sexuality as well as later when you came out?
Do you write on a computer now? Or are you still content with the cacophonous clicks and clacks of a typewriter?
Why did you and Hugh originally decide to move to France; and what do you miss most/least about living in the US?
I saw you read at the State Theatre in Portland, Maine, in or around 2000. During the Q&A session a woman hijacked the open mike and made everyone in the room more than a little uncomfortable when she proceeded to force us all to listen to her haranguing you in an aggressively thankful way. DO YOU ATTRACT A LOT OF CRAZIES TO YOUR READINGS?
Why do you chose such wacky tittles for your books? Do you think such marketing gimmicks help in augmenting sales of your books?
Should your books be shelved in the fiction or the non-fiction section of the bookstore?
Your writing is wonderful, so honest and real, but I wonder how it has impacted your own personal relationships. Are friends and family ever wary of you? Is every experience with them “fair game” as a topic? If not, where and how do you draw the line?
How do you feel about your inclusion on the list of Stuff White People Like?
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/25-david-sedaris/
has your brother paid back any of the money he owes you, or are you continuing to extract that money through profits from stories published about him?
Who makes you laugh?
What is the question wou’d really really like to be asked and never were? What is the answer?
How has your writing process changed since your first works?
Are all writers really nonentities, like you?
Which famous or infamous people would you like to do lunch with?
Man, you are hilarious, I’m fourteen and I think that you are a comedy god, but, just how much of your essays are fiction. I mean, the one where you are a maid hired by a guy who though you were an erotic maid. If that is made up, how do you think of that, or, how the hell do you yourself into that kind of disturbing situation?
As an author what do you believe it takes to captivate the masses with literature, something which been waning among literature in general since the introduction of television and other mass media?
where do you go to eat or buy food and do you find it more enjoyable then in america or do you find you miss some things…like burgers?
Do your siblings enjoy that you write about them? I am especially interested in Tiffany’s thoughts on your writings.
Also, I love you work!
David,
Your brother Paul fascinates me as a real-life character. Is he truly that magical in real life and what has he been up to?
Where would you move if they didn’t allow smoking in Paris?
what’s your biggest guilty in your life and how you can handle it?
David,
How has your writting and the writing of others served as a means of self preservation and growth for you over the years? As for me, your writing has certainly given me solace and plenty of laughs… Thank you.
If someone were to teach a course unrelated to art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where you once taught writing, what advice would you give him or her?
Do you have a pet?
Mr. Sedaris,
As a reader and listener, it’s been interesting to see how your writing has evolved since I first heard the Christmas Elf essay. I’m curious, though, how do you perceive the evolution of your writing?
What’s the best memory you have with Ira Glass?
I am a sumptiously discerning reader–of many interests and subjects and multi-dimensions. However, I don’t know follow the glorified TV-circuit nor book-derby paths that might lead to the clamoring book review audiences. In short, until I came across this Time-CNN article about you, I had never heard of you, nor read nor seen anything that spoke of you.
So, now is your big funny opportunity to respond to an obvious but ever so rare and comedic question: if someone like me has never heard of someone like you: “Who would you say that you are?”
I am a sumptiously discerning reader–of many interests, subjects and multi-dimensions. However, I don’t follow the glorified TV-circuit nor book-derby paths that might lead to the clamoring book review audiences. In short, until I came across this Time-CNN article about you, I had never heard of you, nor read nor seen anything that spoke of you.
So, now is your big funny opportunity to respond to an obvious but ever so rare and comedic question: if someone like me has never heard of someone like you: “Without your mother pre-scripting or pre-scribing your lines, who do YOU say that you REALLY are?”
If someone were to teach a course unrelated to art at an art school, which you did teaching writing, what advise would you give him?
How do you manage to have that many interesting things happen to you?
Dear David~ I used your book, “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim,” when teaching a graduate creative writing class (creative nonfiction). I also used selected pieces from James Thurber. During that seminar, the students and I noticed similarities between your work and Thurber’s. Are you a fan of Thurber’s?
You got your start on National Public Radio–that was the break-out for your voice, your world-view. When I got turned on to you over ten years ‘ago and heard the backstory, I thought ’sh*t man, I can do that.” So I tried. Not as easy as it looks. But I digress.
Before I became a (relatively) widely published journalist, essayist or whatever, when asked where I imagined my career going, I’d reply that i was trying to be the “black, straight, David Sedaris.” i thought this was clever shorthand and gave smart people an instant picture in their heads. I even threw that pitch at a “This American Life” editor once, only to hear an awkward, stilted reply: “Uh, yeah. (pause). I, like, get it.” She didn’t.
All these years later, now that I am actually doing NPR stuff fairly regularly, I was yucking it up with an NPR colleague, and I was telling them the story of why I stopped using that pitch.
“The fact is, there could never be a black, straight David Sedaris, ” I said. “A straight black guy being that caustic, sarcastic and honest would intimidate an NPR crowd. He’d be arrested” My friend nodded in agreement. I wonder what you think.
Now I know what you’re thinking: Chris Rock. Dave Chappelle. Well, now. These folks are more like white America’s favorite mail-clerks who shuck, jive and make a good point occasionally, but not to be taken seriously under any circumstances. No, there really is no essayist of color doing social commentary across mediums. And i don’t know that there could be.
I wonder if there will ever be space on National Public Radio–or anywhere else, for that matter– for diverse voices and perspectives that aren’t merely The View from Darktown-type of cheap-seat liberal anthropology. Something a lil non-conventional. i think there is this fear that if we let black voices on NPR, in Esquire (et al) on the regular basis, the airways (ne’ pages) will be filled with reviews of menthol cigarettes and/or the latest rib joint. I wonder how we actively challenge that notion.
i wonder why there could never be a black, straight David Sedaris.
What do you think?
Yeah, I know it’s a heavy question, but I think it’s in-bounds.
What books do you recommend for teenage boys? What did you enjoy reading in 7 - 12th grade?
Who do you like better, Creedence Clearwater Revival or the Beach Boys?
Hi David:
Your gift of storytelling brings joy to so many people.
I’m curious…when your job becomes lackluster and writing is one more item on the day’s to-do list, what (legal) medium do you go to for inspiration? Do art or music or other literature rejuvenate you and give you a creative nudge when you’ve hit a rut?
Cheers,
Kelly
Were you ever afraid you’de be ridiculed when you were writing your novels?
What did you want to be when you grew up? Not many people would say they planned to become essayists and traveling lecturers.
Would you like to see any of your stories made into films? And if so, would you like to have an acting part in it?
What is one book that you can just read over and over again without boring yourself with it?
David Sedaris, what do you think about Dan Savage and his Savage Love columns? I kind of secretly hope that all famous gay men (Anderson Cooper, you, Mr. Savage) comprise some sort of secret mafia/social club that gets together and hangs out every year.
I just finished Me Talk Pretty One Day, and plan to start Naked next. I really appreciate your work as a North Carolina native and a bisexual woman. You are awesomely hilarious!
Who are you and why should I care to as you a question?
Salut David, love your writing, can’t wait to read your latest book. I’m sure your family is reconciled with you relating such personal stories, so I’m wondering how Hugh “Sir Lance Occasionally” feels about having his life with you, shared with us delighted readers? Has he ever balked or nixed a tale? If yes, how do you handle the situation? Persuasion? Mild/ruthless editing of the most intimate details? Or do you just ignore him? Hehe.
Thank you for your wonderful and hilarious books. Will you appear on The Colbert Report to help sell your new book? I’d love to see you and Stephen Colbert together in an interview.
Since you are so pretty, why don’t you put your picture like really big on the cover of your next book . It could be very ironic, doing something really odd in black and white or something. Since I’m trying to quit smoking (ha) I will be buying your next book and hope to be disappointed by the pictureless book cover.
When you first got into writing, did you have any idea at how successful you would become with it?
Who Intiated you to the world of writing ? Were you as as a school Kid a precocious writer or did this talent develop quite late in life?
You exhibit a pure enjoyment at book signings. Do you truly enjoy meeting your audience as much as you seem to?
Do friends and family ever take exception to the way you portray them in your essays?
How do you feel about children reading your books?
What do you aim to achieve by coupling your writing to the spoken and live versions of your work?
As you discuss in your essays, you have attended quite a few institutes of higher learning. You’ve also (obviously) had many interesting life experiences. Which, would you say, was the most instructive for you and left the greatest impression?
How do most of the characters in your essays respond when and if they realize they are featured in a published work? Most specifically, what did Bonnie of Greensborough think?
you don’t seem like the type to deal with the time consumption and repetitious constraints that come with fame. does your ever-growing hipster fan base recognize and/or stalk you in public?
if you liked girls, would you marry me? kidding.
If you had to choose between being eaten by a shark or dying in a plane crash, which would you choose?
I’ve noticed you holding back laughter during your readings. When you write do you ever make yourself laugh out loud?
I’ve noticed you holding back laughter during your readings. When you write do you ever make yourself laugh out loud?
You went through a tortured artist, deluded thespian and Kerouacian stage in your youth…what stage in your life were you most embarrassed?
If forced to procreate with a Sesame Street Muppet, which one would you choose?
After having beat your addiction to drugs, and now smoking, what does your list of personal vices hold now?
Thank you David, you give us creative non-fiction writers a voice and a role model.
It would seem inevitable that ‘Santaland Diaries’ will be made into a movie one day. How do you feel about this, and what hunky 20-something lead actor can you picture playing you in the lead role?
What’s your biggest fear? And how do you overcome it at least temporarily?
Hi David—Was so excited when your book arrived in the mail June 3—Needed a break from Tolstoy’s War & Peace. Droll, wry and wonderful was your book. Went back to Tolstoy and realized that Tolstoy can be as wry and droll as you. Example, “But despite the fact that the doctors treated him, bled him, and gave him medicines to drink, he recovered.” You both have (and had for T) such acute perception of human behavior. It is all about ’seeing’ , isn’t it, (no matter what kind of artistic endeavor one is pursuing) ? Take care, Dian