David Sedaris: A Reading and Signing

Join us for a reading and signing with none other than renowned humourist, David Sedaris, to celebrate the publication of The Land and Its People.

Please note: unlike our usual event format, this is a chance to hear a 10 minute reading from David, followed by a signing session.

'Sedaris is the God of the comic essay... Sedaris' only rule: be funny or perish' LENA DUNHAM

In The Land and Its People, David Sedaris investigates what it means to be a traveller, a brother, a lifelong friend. Trying on the role of carer after his boyfriend Hugh's hip-replacement surgery, he both succeeds and fails. He covers ground with his friend Dawn and challenges her to eat a truck tire. An ambivalent Duolingo bot becomes his unlikely confidante as he attempts to describe his family in a foreign language. 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.

Time takes its toll: Scrolling through his address book, he counts those he couldn't bear to outline and realizes how many are already gone. He is bitten by a dog and insulted by a wee train passenger. A woman on the street late at night either sexually harasses him or doesn't. It's easy to agree with the lady waving a sign that reads, 'Enough is Enough.' And yet, life holds much to delight in: the massive testicles of a ram, a trip abroad with his sisters, a really excellent reptile video, a pair of well-made cotton underpants.

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 our fascinating human species and the lands we inhabit.

David Sedaris is the author of fifteen previous books, including, most recently, A Carnival of Snackery, The Best of Me, Calypso and Happy-Go-Lucky. He is a regular contributor to the New Yorker and BBC Radio 4. In 2019, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Sedaris lives in Sussex and travels regularly to the US.