The New Yorker cartoon editor, Bob Mankoff, to speak at Washington and Lee

Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor of The New Yorker, will give a public talk at Washington and Lee University on May 18, at 4:30 p.m. at Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons.

The title of Mankoff’s talk is “How About Never—Is Never Good For You?: My Life in Cartoons.” The talk is free and open to the public. Before the talk, there will be a book signing of Mankoff’s memoir (the title is the same as the title of his talk) published in 2014.

During his lecture, Mankoff will talk about his memoir, The New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest (along with the W&L contest) and about freedom of expression in cartooning.

Mankoff has created a special cartoon caption contest for the May 18 lecture and is seeking caption submissions from the W&L community. Caption entries may be submitted via email to [email protected] and should include the submitter’s full name and affiliation with Washington and Lee (i.e. student, faculty, staff, alumnus, parent).

The deadline for entries is May 7, 2015, at noon. The winner will be announced during Mankoff’s talk and will receive a signed copy of his new memoir.

An accomplished cartoonist, Mankoff has been the cartoon editor of The New Yorker since 1997. In 1994, he began submitting his own cartoons and after 2,000 rejections, his first “idea drawing” was finally accepted and published. In 1980, he accepted a contract to contribute cartoons on a regular basis.

These days, Mankoff is mainly responsible for helping to select from the 1,000 cartoons the magazine receives each week, in order to select the 16 or 17 he says will actually make it into print.

Mankoff, also the founder of The Cartoon Bank, is the editor of “The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker,” (2006) which contains all 68,647 cartoons published in The New Yorker between 1925 and 2006. More than 900 of his cartoons have been published in The New Yorker over the past 20 years. He has edited dozens of other cartoon books and published four of his own. He appears frequently on network talk shows, cable TV networks and syndicated radio programs.

Mankoff’s presentation is in connection with a W&L Spring Term course, The Psychology of Humor. His visit is sponsored by the Office of the Provost, along with the Psychology and Journalism Departments.