Diana J. Gabaldon ( /ˈɡæbəldəʊn/ ; born January 11, 1952) is an American author and television writer. She is most famous for her book series called Outlander. Her books combine different genres, including historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure, and science fiction/fantasy. A television version of the Outlander books began showing on Starz in 2014.

Early life and education

Gabaldon was born on January 11, 1952, in Williams, Arizona, United States. She is the daughter of Jacqueline Sykes and Tony Gabaldon (1930–1998). Tony Gabaldon was an Arizona state senator from Flagstaff for sixteen years and later worked as a supervisor in Coconino County. Her father had Mexican ancestry, and her mother had English ancestry.

Gabaldon grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. She earned a bachelor's degree in zoology from Northern Arizona University from 1970 to 1973. She later received a master's degree in marine biology from the University of California, San Diego, at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from 1973 to 1975. Finally, she completed a PhD in behavioral ecology from Northern Arizona University from 1975 to 1978.

Career

Diana Gabaldon began her writing career at Gold Key Comics. She sent a letter that said, "I've been reading your comics for the last 25 years, and they've been getting worse and worse. I'm not sure if I could do better myself, but I'd like to try." Editor Del Connell gave her a sample script and bought her second submission.

Gabaldon was the first editor of Science Software Quarterly in 1984 while working at the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University. During the 1980s, she wrote software reviews and technical articles for computer publications, including a review of Full Impact. She also wrote popular-science articles and Disney comics. She worked as a professor with expertise in scientific computation at Arizona State University for 12 years before leaving to write full-time.

In 1988, Gabaldon decided to write a novel for practice, just to learn how. She had no plan to share it with others. As a research professor, she chose to write a historical novel because it seemed easier to research and write, even though she had no background in history. She had no specific time period in mind until she saw a rerun of a Doctor Who episode titled "The War Games." A character in the episode, Jamie McCrimmon, a young Scottish man from around 1745, inspired her main male character, James Fraser, and the setting of her novel in mid-18th century Scotland. She wanted to include an Englishwoman character to contrast with the Scots, but her female character took control of the story and added modern comments about everything.

To explain the character's modern behavior, Gabaldon used time travel. She did her research by reading books because the internet did not exist at the time. Later, she posted a short part of her novel on the CompuServe Literary Forum, where author John E. Stith introduced her to literary agent Perry Knowlton. Knowlton represented her based on an unfinished first novel, tentatively titled Cross Stitch. Her first book deal was for a trilogy, including the first novel and two sequels that had not yet been written. Her U.S. publishers changed the first book's title to Outlander, but the title remained Cross Stitch in the UK. According to Gabaldon, British publishers liked Cross Stitch because it was a play on the phrase "a stitch in time," but American publishers preferred a more "adventurous" title. After finishing her second book, Gabaldon left her job at Arizona State University to become a full-time author.

As of 2021, the Outlander series includes nine published novels. The ninth book, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, was published on November 23, 2021. Gabaldon also published The Exile (An Outlander Graphic Novel) in 2010. The Lord John series are additional books in the Outlander series, not a separate series, and focus on a secondary character from the original books. In September 2021, Gabaldon announced she was working on the tenth Outlander book. In May 2025, she said she was still writing the book, which will be the final novel in the main series, and it will be titled A Blessing for a Warrior Going Out.

Personal life

Gabaldon lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband, Doug Watkins. They have three adult children. Her son, Sam Sykes, is also a fantasy writer. Gabaldon is a Roman Catholic. She identifies as a Libertarian.

Published works

The Outlander series follows Claire Randall, a nurse from the 20th century, who travels through time to 18th-century Scotland. There, she meets James Fraser and experiences adventures and romance. The stories take place in Scotland, France, the West Indies, England, and North America. The books combine different types of stories, including historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure, and science fiction/fantasy.

Books in the series:
• Outlander (1991) (called Cross Stitch in the UK and Australia)
• Dragonfly in Amber (1992)
• Voyager (1993)
• Drums of Autumn (1996)
• The Fiery Cross (2001)
• A Breath of Snow and Ashes (2005)
• An Echo in the Bone (2009)
• Written in My Own Heart's Blood (2014)
• Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (2021)

Short stories and novellas:
• "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" (2010), part of the anthology Songs of Love and Death; later included in A Trail of Fire (2012) and Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (2017).
• The Space Between (2013), a novella in The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination; later included in A Trail of Fire (2012) and Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (2017).
• Virgins (2013), a novella in Dangerous Women; later included in Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (2017).
• "Past Prologue" (2017), a short story written with Steve Berry and published in MatchUp. It connects the Outlander series with Berry’s Cotton Malone series.
• A Fugitive Green (2017), a novella in Seven Stones to Stand or Fall.

Other works:
• The Outlandish Companion (1999), a guide to the Outlander series; updated as The Outlandish Companion (Volume One) (2015).
• The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel (2010)
• The Outlandish Companion (Volume Two) (2015)
• "Vengeance Is Mine", an episode of Outlander season 2 (June 18, 2016)
• "Journeycake", an episode of Outlander season 5 (May 3, 2020)
• "Ye Dinna Get Used to It", an episode of Outlander season 7 (December 27, 2024)
• "Braemar", an episode of Outlander: Blood of My Blood season 1 (September 26, 2025)
• "Something Borrowed", an episode of Outlander: Blood of My Blood season 1 (October 10, 2025; co-written with Matthew B. Roberts)

The Lord John series includes books and shorter works about Lord John Grey, a character from the Outlander series. This series has five novellas and three novels, all set between 1756 and 1761, during the events of Voyager. These stories are mostly historical mysteries and focus on fewer plotlines than the main Outlander books.

Books in the Lord John series:
• Lord John and the Private Matter (2003), novel
• Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade (2007), novel
• The Scottish Prisoner (2011), novel

Novellas:
• Lord John and the Hellfire Club (1998), first published in Past Poisons
• Lord John and the Succubus (2003), first published in Legends II
• Lord John and the Haunted Soldier (2007), published in Lord John and the Hand of Devils
• Lord John and the Hand of Devils (2007), a collection of three novellas
• The Custom of the Army (2010), published in Warriors and later in Seven Stones to Stand or Fall
• Lord John and the Plague of Zombies (2011), published in Down These Strange Streets and later in Seven Stones to Stand or Fall
• Besieged (2017), published in Seven Stones to Stand or Fall

Other works:
• Naked Came the Phoenix (2001), a collaboration with twelve other authors
• "Humane Killer", a short story co-written with Sam Sykes, published in The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy (2009)
• "Dirty Scottsdale", a short crime story set in Phoenix, Arizona, published in Phoenix Noir (2009)

Professor Gabaldon’s research includes:
• Gabaldon, Diana J. (1979). Factors involved in nest site selection by piñon jays (Thesis). Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University. p. 241.
• Clark, L.; Gabaldon, Diana J. (1979). "Nest Desertion by the Piñon Jay". The Auk. 96 (4). American Ornithological Society: 796–798.
• Gabaldon, Diana J. (1979). "Observation of a Possible Alternate Mode of Feeding in a Porcellanid Crab". Crustaceana. 36 (1). Brill: 110–112.
• Montevecchi, W. A.; Ricklefs, R. E.; Kirkham, I. R.; Gabaldon, Diana (1984). "Growth Energetics of Nestling Northern Gannets". The Auk. 101 (2). American Ornithological Society: 334–341.
• Gordon, M. S.; Gabaldon, Diana J.; Yip, A. Y.-w. (1985). "Exploratory observations on microhabitat selection within the intertidal zone by the Chinese mudskipper fish". Marine Biology. 85 (2). Springer: 209–215.

Adaptations

The Outlander series is available in audiobook formats. The full version is narrated by Davina Porter, while the shorter version is narrated by Geraldine James. Audiobooks of several Lord John books are also available, with Jeff Woodman as the narrator.

A television version of the Outlander series first aired on Starz in the United States on August 9, 2014. Diana Gabaldon appeared briefly as Iona MacTavish in the August 2014 episode titled "The Gathering." She works as a paid consultant for the show and wrote the screenplay for the 2016 season 2 episode "Vengeance Is Mine."

In 2010, Gabaldon adapted the first part of Outlander into a graphic novel called The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel, illustrated by Hoang Nguyen. That same year, a 14-song musical based on Outlander was released under the title Outlander: The Musical.

Reception and awards

Diana Gabaldon's book Outlander won the Romance Writers of America's RITA Award for Best Romance in 1991. Her book A Breath of Snow and Ashes (2005) reached the top of The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best-Seller List and won the Quill Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror. In 2007, The Montreal Gazette reported that Gabaldon's books were available in 24 countries and 19 languages, and that she kept writing best-selling books. By 2012, her novels had been published in 27 countries and 24 languages. She has received many awards for her writing and her work in the UK, including the National Trust for Scotland's "Great Scot" award, which is rarely given to someone who is not from Scotland. She also received the St. Andrew's Society of Los Angeles & Southern California's "Robert Burns Lifetime Achievement Award." Gabaldon continues to be honored worldwide for her work.

The book Lord John and the Private Matter reached No. 8 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best-Seller List in 2003. In 2007, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade reached the top of the list, and the collection The Hand of Devils reached No. 24. In 2011, the book The Scottish Prisoner reached No. 6 on The New York Times E-Book Fiction Best-Seller List. The novella A Plague of Zombies was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for "Best Short Mystery Story" in the same year. Publishers Weekly reviewed the Lord John series and noted that Gabaldon's writing is "crisply elegant" and that she "brings an effusive joy to her fiction that proves infectious even for readers unfamiliar with her work or the period."