Mike Pride grew up in Florida and graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in American Studies. After eight years as a journalist in the state, he moved to New Hampshire, where he ran the newsroom of the Concord Monitor from 1978 to 2008. He served nine years on the Pulitzer Prize Board and unretired to administer the prizes from 2014 to 2017. The author or co-author of six previous books, Pride lives in Bow, N.H., with his wife Monique.