David Sedaris Returns To Chicago For Reading

CHICAGO (CBS) - The man who brought us the stories of life as a SantaLand elf at Macy's, and of being mistaken for a pickpocket by fellow Americans while in Paris, is in Chicago Tuesday night to read from and sign his new literary collection.

Writer David Sedaris will appear at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Borders bookstore at 2817 N. Clark St. in the East Lakeview neighborhood.

He will read from his latest work, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modern Bestiary, which is described as a collection of short animal tales, including, "'a motherless bear who alienates herself with her incessant, self-centered solicitations of pity, and the potbellied pig who, no matter the diet, just can't lose his breed-inherited descriptor," says the Tribune-ChicagoNow blog 'What's a Boy to Do?'

Sedaris is best-known for his readings on NPR and on the public radio program "This American Life." He is also known for his largely autobiographical literary anthologies, including Barrel Fever, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and When You Are Engulfed in Flames.

In visiting Chicago, Sedaris is returning to one of his many past hometowns. Sedaris was born in Binghamton, N.Y., and grew up in Raleigh, N.C., but moved to Chicago in 1983 to study writing at the School of the Art Institute. He graduated from the school in 1987.

Sedaris' radio career also began in Chicago, when he met then-WBEZ staffer Ira Glass 1992 and was asked to appear on Glass' local program, "The Wild One." Glass' "This American Life" debuted three years later, and Sedaris' stories have been heard on the program ever since.

He has lived in France with his partner, Hugh Hamrick, for the past several years.

His new book hit the New York Times Bestseller Fiction List soon after it was published in September.