Henry Alford Writer

Henry Alford is an American humorist and journalist who has contributed to Vanity Fair and The New York Times for over a decade. He has also written for The New Yorker. The author of four books, he won a Thurber Prize for his second, Big Kiss, an account of his attempt to become a working actor. His book about manners, Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That?, was published in January 2012 and he currently writes a column about manners for The New York Times.Sometimes called an "investigative humorist," he is primarily known for his first-person quests and exploits. These include creating a gourmet meal out of food purchased at a 99-Cent Store, walking the streets of New York City in his pajamas, inviting a restaurant health inspector to rate his apartment's kitchen while he was serving lunch to friends, and trying to pass the National Dog Groomers Association's certification test by applying lipstick to his cocker spaniel's snout and telling the test's judge, "I like a dog with a face."His humor pieces for The New Yorker have included his imagining British taxi drivers reciting W.H. Auden's poetry to their passengers (which erroneously suggested citizens of the Northern city of York speak in the Cockney dialect) and a playlet composed entirely of Eugene O'Neill's stage directions. (Both are collected in the New Yorker's humor anthology, Disquiet Please, and the O'Neill playlet has been taught at M.I.T.) In September 2007, the magazine published Alford's account of wearing a solar-powered jacket for three weeks.He has contributed frequently to the Styles sections of the New York Times and to the New York Times Book Review, and written extensively about food and travel. His January 2013 article in the Travel section of the "New York Times" about Medellin, Colombia was referenced by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Benghazi hearings.