Charles Wohlforth is a life-long Alaska resident and prize-winning author of more than ten books. His work includes writing about science and the environment, politics and history, travel, and as-told-to biography. He writes a frequent column for Alaska Dispatch News, regularly hosts interview programs on Alaska Public Media radio stations, and has lectured all over the United States and overseas. He is father of four, living in Anchorage during the winter, where he is an avid cross-country skier, and in summer on a remote Kachemak Bay shore reachable only by boat.

Wohlforth graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1986 before returning to Alaska to work six years as a newspaper reporter. He became a full-time freelance writer in 1993, publishing articles in The New Republic, Outside, Discover and other periodicals. He served two 3-year terms on the Anchorage Assembly, worked as a political consultant and speechwriter, and led various community groups, including and non-profit organization that brought hundreds of millions of dollars of new support to struggling rural Alaska schools.