From Pensacola, Florida, Charles Presti is a storyteller with a suitcase full of lived experience—and just enough baggage to keep things interesting. A retired physician and informatics specialist, Chuck made an unlikely leap into writing, guided by dinner table stories that refused to stay put. What began as personal anecdotes has grown into an award-winning literary journey.
His debut novel, Covered in Flour, is a fictional memoir that captures the messy beauty of coming-of-age in a 1960s Italian-American suburb—and recently earned the Next Generation Indie Book Award for First Novel under 50,000 Words. Encouraged by family and friends, Chuck found his footing in storytelling not through ambition, but affection—for memory, for place, and for the quiet truths that shape us.
Though he doesn’t solely identify as an author, Chuck finds joy in crafting stories that resonate. His voice draws deeply from his roots: a childhood in Midwestern suburbia, an adulthood shaped by the journey of coming out and growing whole. Today, he shares life in Pensacola with his husband of nearly 30 years, Mike Bruce, and their spirited Wheaten Terrier, Zoey.
Together, Chuck and Mike co-founded Sunday’s Child, a nonprofit that funds local organizations championing diversity and inclusion. As the group’s inaugural president, Chuck helped shape a mission that reflects their shared commitment to creating a more welcoming community.
His storytelling has since branched into children’s literature with Zoe’s Garden Tales—a whimsical, illustrated series that champions courage, kindness, and the quiet power of being different. The series includes The Silent Song of Harpo, a finalist in the 2025 Children’s Book International Competition, and A Star, A Storm, and Her Chariot, featuring Astra, a resilient squirrel who rolls toward healing on her own terms. Narrated by the soulful and slightly sassy Arney the Armadillo, the series explores themes of acceptance, quiet strength, and finding one’s place in the world.
For reflections, soft observations, and whatever won't leave him alone until it’s written down, Chuck shares his latest work on Substack. It’s a gentler corner of the internet—part garden path, part back kitchen—where memory and meaning tend to show up uninvited and linger a while.