Fans of David Sedaris will not have to be convinced to check out Calypso, his latest collection of stories.  My job is to convince the uninitiated reader to join the David Sedaris fan club.  First, listening to David narrate his own stories is the best way to fully appreciate his gift for storytelling.  Second, knowing a bit about his background provides some context for his stories.  He was the second of six children and he grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina.  He always felt closer to his late mother and he had a more difficult relationship with his father.  His youngest sister, Tiffany, struggled with mental health issues and committed suicide in 2015.  His big break came with a radio monologue untitled The Santaland Diaries that described his experience working as one of Santa’s helpers at Macy’s department store.  David has been writing and performing his stories since 1994.  David lives in West Sussex, England with his partner Hugh and spends some time with his family at a beach house in Emerald Isle, North Carolina.  The rest of the time, he travels the world reading his work and signing books.  Many of his stories in this collection stem from his time on the book tour trail.  It becomes apparent while listening to Calypso and to interviews that David has done that his spoken word performances are equally as important to him as they are to his fans.

If you have never read or listened to one of David’s books, be prepared to be offended by some of the language.  Be prepared to laugh out loud.  Be prepared to cry and feel all the feels.