Diana J. Gabaldon (; born January 11, 1952) is an American author and television writer. She is best known for the book series Outlander. Her books merge multiple genres, featuring elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction/fantasy. A television adaptation of the Outlander novels premiered on Starz in 2014.
Gabaldon was born on January 11, 1952, in Williams, Arizona, United States, the daughter of Jacqueline Sykes and Tony Gabaldon (1930–1998), an Arizona state senator from Flagstaff for sixteen years and later a supervisor of Coconino County. Her father was of Mexican ancestry, and her mother was of English descent.
Gabaldon grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. She earned a bachelor of science in zoology from Northern Arizona University(1970–1973), a master of science in marine biology from the University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (1973–1975), and a PhD in behavioral ecology from Northern Arizona University(1975–1978).
Diana Gabaldon began her writing career at Gold Key Comics, initially sending a query that stated, "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 provided a script sample and bought her second submission.
Gabaldon was the founding editor of Science Software Quarterly in 1984 while employed at the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University. During the 1980s, Gabaldon wrote software reviews and technical articles for computer publications such as a review of Full Impact, as well as popular-science articles and Disney comics. She was a professor with an expertise in scientific computation at ASU for 12 years before leaving to write full-time.
In 1988, Gabaldon decided to write a novel for "practice, just to learn how", and with no intention to show it to anyone. As a research professor, she decided that a historical novel would be easiest to research and write, but she had no background in history and initially no particular time period in mind. Gabaldon happened to see a rerun episode of the Doctor Who science fiction TV series titled "The War Games". One of the Doctor's companions was a Scot from around 1745, a young man about 17 years old named Jamie McCrimmon, who provided the initial inspiration for her main male character, James Fraser, and for her novel's mid-18th century Scotland setting. Gabaldon decided to have "an Englishwoman to play off all these kilted Scotsmen", but her female character "took over the story and began telling it herself, making smart-ass modern remarks about everything".
To explain the character's modern behavior and attitudes, Gabaldon chose to use time travel. Writing the novel at a time "when the World Wide Web didn't exist", she did her research "the old-fashioned way, by herself, through books".
Later, Gabaldon posted a short excerpt 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, the first novel plus two then-unwritten sequels. Her US publishers changed the first book's title to Outlander, but the title remained unchanged in the UK. According to Gabaldon, her British publishers liked the title Cross Stitch, a play on "a stitch in time"; however, the American publisher said it "sounded too much like embroidery" and wanted a more "adventurous" title. When her second book was finished, Gabaldon resigned her faculty position at Arizona State University to become a full-time author.
As of 2021, the Outlander series comprises nine published novels. The ninth installment, 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 rather than a spin-off series, centering on a secondary character from the original series. Gabaldon announced in September 2021 that she is working on the tenth Outlander series book. In May 2025 she announced that she is still writing the book, that it will be the final novel in the main series, and that it be called A Blessing for a Warrior Going Out.
Gabaldon lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband Doug Watkins, with whom she has three adult children. Her son, Sam Sykes, is also a fantasy writer.
Gabaldon is a Roman Catholic and identifies as a Libertarian.
The Outlander series focuses on 20th-century nurse Claire Randall, who time travels to 18th-century Scotland and finds adventure and romance with the dashing James Fraser. Set in Scotland, France, the West Indies, England and North America, the novels merge multiple genres, featuring elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction/fantasy.
Outlander (1991) (published in the UK and Australia as Cross Stitch)
A Breath of Snow and Ashes (2005)
Written in My Own Heart's Blood (2014)
Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (2021)
"A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" (2010), a short story in the anthology Songs of Love and Death. Later collected in A Trail of Fire (2012), and Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (2017).
The Space Between (2013), a novella in the anthology The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination. Later collected in A Trail of Fire (2012), and Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (2017).