Daniel Menaker

Former New Yorker editor Daniel Menaker and cartoonist Roz Chast on their new book, "The African Svelte: Ingenious Misspellings That Make Surprising Sense."

Daniel Menaker discusses beginning his career as a fact checker at The New Yorker in 1969. He was promoted to editor and he stayed at the magazine for another 24 years. In My Mistake: A Memoir, he portrays life in that wonderfully strange place and beyond. He offers wry, hilarious observations on publishing, child-rearing, parent-losing, and the writing life.

Good conversation remains deeply important, but it seems to be increasingly endangered by e-mail and texting and cell phones. Daniel Menaker explains what elements create quality conversation—from subtext to structure to subliminal signals. His book A Good Talk: The Story of Skill and Conversation is a celebration of the ...