Charles Monagan

I have been a writer and editor since I began working as a summer intern reporter for a daily newspaper in Meriden, Conn., in 1969. After graduating from Dartmouth in 1972, I became a daily newspaper reporter. In 1977, I went to work at Connecticut Magazine as a staff writer, assistant editor and editor, then left to write "The Neurotic's Handbook," "The Reluctant Naturalist" and (with New Yorker cartoonist Mick Stevens) "Poodles From Hell." I next went to the State Capitol in Hartford, where I wrote speeches for the governor, and then back to Connecticut Magazine, where I settled in as editor in 1989 and stayed until 2013. During this period, I wrote "How to Get a Monkey into Harvard" and "Connecticut Icons." In 2011, I wrote the book and lyrics for a musical, "Mad Bomber." In 2016, Penmore Press published my first novel, "Carrie Welton," honored as an Editor's Choice by the Historical Novel Society. In 2017, Globe Pequot republished "Connecticut Icons" with additional icons, updates and a new cover. Summer 2020 brought another novel, a mystery called "The Easter Confession," called "a superior whodunit" by Publishers Weekly in a STARRED REVIEW. Visit my web page at charlesmonagan.com for my blog posts and more.