Charles Monagan has been a writer and editor since 1972, when he graduated from Dartmouth College. His work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers, and from 1989 to 2013 he was the editor of Connecticut Magazine. In 1997, he won the Gold Medal for Reporting from the national City and Regional Magazine Association. In 2012, he received the Connecticut Press Club’s Mark Twain Award for Distinguished Journalism, a lifetime award.

Monagan is the author of 10 books, including The Neurotic’s Handbook, The Reluctant Naturalist, and How to Get a Monkey into Harvard. Additionally, he wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Mad Bomber, which was produced in 2011 and won first place in the Academy for New Musical Theatre’s 2012 international Search for New Musicals.