If you’ve read David Sedaris’ latest best-selling collection of essays, “Happy-Go-Lucky,” you’ll understand why he politely asks for your address at the start of a phone interview. “When I go on a book tour, I write to everyone who interviews me, to every store and media escort,” Sedaris humbly brags in “A Speech to the Graduates,” his opening address to the Oberlin College class of 2018.” You know who else does that? Nobody.”
When a publicity blitz includes more than two dozen stops in multiple countries, like Sedaris’ current one, it’s an impressive feat. So why not send an appreciative email or just vaporize in the next time zone like most busy authors do? “It kind of tells you how someone was raised,” he said. “I had a great-aunt who sent me to a summer camp in Greece. If that’s not worth a thank you note, I don’t know what is. My mom had to put a gun to my head to get me to write that thank you note. But it wasn’t until I grew up that I realized how important it was.”
Given his trademark fussiness, it’s no surprise that Sedaris has certain standards for his correspondence. He may not contact an interviewer who asks boring or complicated questions, such as “How’s your writing?” or “What does your mother think?” (His mother has been dead for decades — and no, he doesn’t use euphemisms like “deceased,” as he explains in the book.) Sedaris avoids stationery printed with sloppy messages; he has a penchant for cartoon postcards bought in Germany, “the capital of cartoon postcards,” where he holds a record for bulk purchases in a Berlin store. He tries not to repeat himself, which can be a challenge. Sedaris said: “This morning I wrote Politics and Prose a thank you letter and I thought, ‘Oh, I hope it’s not identical to the one I wrote last time! I’ve been there so many times, chances are they have a big collection.” He will focus on something more personal, such as “someone in the store who brought me something to eat or drink.”
Sedaris has an important message for the recipients of his notes: you don’t have to write back. It’s not that he doesn’t want to hear from you; it’s just that the logistics get complicated. He explained, “Sometimes I write someone a thank you letter and then they write me a thank you letter for my thank you letter. You have to cut it off at some point. There are only so many pen pals you can have in your life. The gratitude spiral must end.”
Elisabeth Egan is an editor at the Book Review and author of ‘A Window Opens’.
