The author of the bestselling Outlander series, Diana Gabaldon, has teamed up with her local bookstore, 26-year-old Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Ariz., on a writer-in-residence program. Charles Finch, author of the Charles Lenox mystery novels set in Victorian England, has been chosen as the inaugural resident.
“As readers, we both want not only to give talented authors like Charles Finch something extra, if only a winter break, but to develop the writers’ community here,” explained Poisoned Pen founder Barbara Peters when asked about the effort.
As part of the week-long residency (Feb. 21-28), Finch will host three author events: with Laurie R. King for Dreaming Spies, Priscilla Royal for Satan’s Lullaby, and Tessa Arlen for Death of a Dishonorable Gentlemen. In addition he will conduct a workshop at the bookstore on “Getting Your Novel Off the Ground,” as well as a day-long story structure master class with a break for an event with Francine Mathews for Too Bad to Die, who will be interviewed by Jeffrey Deaver.
Finch will also give a reading, sponsored by Poisoned Pen, of his newest novel, The Laws of Murder, at the Sunrise Mountain Library in Peoria.
But even before Finch begins his residency, Peters and Gabaldon are already talking about possible writers for next year.
