Festival BOOKS
DAVID SEDARIS True stories make for awkwardly brilliant comedy
W ith over seven million book sales and a Grammy nomination for the Carnegie Hall recording of his droll essays, David Sedaris could be forgiven for resting on his laurels.
But the American humorist and author is back on the road, returning to the Fringe with his acclaimed show An Evening With David Sedaris, in which he feeds off his audience, combining readings from his published essays and stories – delivered in signature nasal yet dulcet tones – with Q&A sessions and snippets from his personal diaries. Best known in the UK for his uproarious essays and Radio 4 series Meet David Sedaris, this year he’s back in Edinburgh following sold-out runs at the Fringe in 2011 and at Cadogan Hall in London last year.
Combining sardonic wit with wild reference points, his incisive social critiques become take-downs of every living being you’ve
94 THE LIST 22 Aug–19 Sep 2013
come across and hated: the over-enthusiastic sales assistant who has miscalculated your interest in the finer details of their craft; the egomaniac that lives inside each of us, clamouring to get out.
Classic American-abroad murmurings meet obsessive-compulsive habits in his latest offering, Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls. Trenchant and hilarious, at one moment he unpacks the romance of buying a stuffed owl as a Valentine for his significant other; the next he’s inspiring gross-out reactions to teenage girl’s head subsequently proffered by the same taxidermist. Whatever the subject matter Sedaris chooses to discuss with his Edinburgh audience, it’s bound to be a hoot. (Nicola Balkind) the 400-year-old preserved
Venue 150 @ EICC, 0844 847 1639, until 24 Aug, 6.30pm, £20.
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HITLIST THE BEST BOOKS, COMICS & EVENTS
✽ Margaret Atwood There’s no other word for it: Atwood (pictured) is
unmissable. Here she introduces the final part of her Oryx & Crake trilogy, MaddAddam. See preview, page 97. Charlotte Square Gardens, 24 Aug, 8pm, £10 (£8).
✽ Literary Death Match LDM is always great fun, and this special festival event is sure to be both entertaining and enlightening as four authors compete in front of a panel of all-star judges. Charlotte Square Gardens, 23 Aug, 9pm, free.
✽ A Celebration of Iain Banks The life and works of the much-missed author is celebrated at this event with three of the people who knew him best. See preview, page 95. Charlotte Square Gardens, 25 Aug, 9.30pm, £10 (£8).
✽ Where Have All the Brave Girls Gone? Want more strong female
adventurers in your fiction? So do we. Join the debate and get recommendations for new, kick-ass reading material. Charlotte Square Gardens, 22 Aug, 5pm, £10 (£8).
✽ Stuart Kelly on Batman Perfect for
Dark Knight fans and comic book beginners, this workshop with literary critic Kelly explores the Batman mythos. To the batcave! Charlotte Square Gardens, 26 Aug, 1pm, £15 (£12).
✽ David Sedaris The American humorist and author shares his confessions – equal
parts cringey and hilarious. See preview, left. Venue 150 @ EICC, until 24 Aug, 6.30pm, £20.
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