• “The smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance story ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting 'Scrooge McDuck' comics.”—Salon.com
  • A time-hopping, continent-spanning salmagundi of genres.”
    —ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
  • “These books have to be word-of-mouth books because they're too weird to describe to anybody.”
    —Jackie Cantor, Diana's first editor

Bio


Diana Gabaldon is the author of the award-winning, #1 NYT-bestselling OUTLANDER novels, described by Salon magazine as “the smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance story ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting ‘Scrooge McDuck’ comics.”

As of January, 2022, Diana’s books are published in thirty-eight languages and sold in one hundred and fourteen countries.

The adventure began in 1991 with the classic OUTLANDER ("historical fiction with a Moebius twist"), and has continued through eight more internationally bestselling novels in the series so far. These books feature the story of Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser and Jamie Fraser, and include elements of time travel and lots of real Scottish and American history.

2021-04-15-BEES-PRH-US-coverThe latest novel in Diana’s Outlander series of major novels is GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE, which was first published in the U.S.A., Canada, the U.K., and Germany on November 23, 2021. BEES debuted at number one on the New York Times list and is also an international bestseller. She is currently writing and doing the background research for Book Ten of the Outlander novels, as yet untitled.

Diana serves as a co-producer and advisor for the popular Outlander TV series, which is produced by the Starz network and Tall Ship Productions and distributed by Sony International. The show is an adaptation of her OUTLANDER series of novels. She has also written the scripts for several episodes and made a cameo appearance in the first season.

Lord John Grey (a major minor character from the Outlander series of novels, is featured in a novel, THE SCOTTISH PRISONER and short stories and novellas.

Diana has written a number of short stories and novellas that are related to her Outlander and Lord John works. Her Chronology of the Outlander Series webpage shows how the novels and short fiction are interwoven in time.

THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION, Volumes One and Two, are nonfiction (well, relatively) which provide details on the settings, background, characters, research, and writing of the first eight novels in the Outlander series of novels. Authorized publications by various authors have also celebrated the Outlander novels including a coloring book, cookbook, and others.

Returning to her comic-book roots, she wrote a graphic novel titled THE EXILE (set within the OUTLANDER universe and featuring the main characters from the novel OUTLANDER), but told from the viewpoint of Jamie Fraser and his godfather, Murtagh. 

Dr. Diana J. Gabaldon holds three degrees in science: Zoology, Marine Biology, and a Ph.D. in Quantitative Behavioral Ecology. (Plus she was granted an honorary degree as Doctor of Humane Letters, which entitles her to be Diana Gabaldon, Ph.D., D.H.L.”  She supposes this is better than “Diana Gabaldon, Phd.X.”)

Diana worked a dozen years as a university professor before beginning to write her first novel, OUTLANDER, in 1989. Through the late 1980s, she wrote scientific articles and textbooks, worked as a contributing editor on the MacMillan ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMPUTERS, founded the scientific-computation journal SCIENCE SOFTWARE QUARTERLY, contributed articles to tech magazines such as INFOWORLD, and wrote numerous comic-book scripts for Walt Disney. None of this has anything whatever to do with her novels, but there it is.

Diana and her husband, Douglas Watkins, have three adult children, and two grandchildren.

A native of Flagstaff, Arizona, Diana wrote a touching story about her parents for an Arizona newspaper titled “Myth and Mountain Birthdays.”

More about Diana…


This page was last updated on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at 2:45 p.m. (Central Time) by Diana Gabaldon or Diana’s Webmistress.