Great Falls Forum with Paul Doiron
The 2018-2019 season of the Great Falls Forum continues on Thursday, January 17th, featuring Maine novelist Paul Doiron, with a talk entitled “Telling Maine Stories.” The program will take place from 12 noon to 1 PM in Callahan Hall at the Lewiston Public Library
Mystery novels have long been viewed as entertaining but unserious books. In his Great Falls Forum talk, Paul will discuss how crime novelists often deal with social issues other literary genres struggle to address. From the opioid crisis to rural homelessness to post-traumatic stress among veterans of our most recent wars, Paul has found himself addressing topics that Mainers themselves identify as major problems for our state — all while trying to spin good yarns, of course.
Paul Doiron is the author of the Mike Bowditch series of crime novels, including The Poacher’s Son, which won the Barry Award and the Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for an Edgar Award, an Anthony Award, a Macavity Award, and a Thriller Award for Best First Novel, and the Maine Literary Award for “Best Fiction of 2010.” PopMatters named it to its Best Fiction of 2010 list.
His second book, Trespasser, won the Maine Literary Award, was an American Booksellers Association Indie Bestseller, and has been called a “masterpiece of high-octane narrative” by Booklist. The third novel, Bad Little Falls, was a Bookscan Bestseller and a nominee for the RT Reviewers Choice Award and the Maine Literary Award. Massacre Pond, the fourth in the series, was an Indie Next pick and an Indie Favorite, as well as Bookscan Bestseller, and Maine Literary Award finalist. The Bone Orchard received a Best of Maine award from Down East. The Precipice was a LibraryReads selection and a RT Top Pick. The seventh Mike Bowditch novel, Widowmaker, was also a LibraryReads selection and a #1 Maine Sunday Telegram bestseller. Published in 2017, Knife Creek was Paul’s bestselling novel to date. The ninth book in the series, Stay Hidden, was a USA Today Bestseller and the fastest-selling novel in the series to date.
Paul is Editor Emeritus of Down East: The Magazine of Maine, having served as Editor in Chief from 2005 to 2013, before stepping down to write full time. A native of Maine, he attended Yale University, where he graduated with a degree in English, and he holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College. He is a former member of the Maine Arts Commission and current chair of the Maine Humanities Council. He is also a Registered Maine Guide specializing in fly fishing and lives on a trout stream in coastal Maine with his wife, Kristen Lindquist.
His novels have been translated into 11 languages: German, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Romanian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Czech, and Finnish. The UK editions of his books are published by Constable & Robinson, a division of Little Brown.
Admission is free to all Forum events and no reservations are required. This program is a bring-your-own, brown-bag lunch event. Coffee, tea and bottled water will be available on site at the library.
The Great Falls Forum is a monthly, brown-bag speaker series featuring statewide and regional leaders in public policy, business, academia and the arts. The programs are free, open to all and no reservations are required. Coffee, tea and bottled water are provided for a donation at the event. The Forum is a co-sponsorship of the Sun Journal, Bates College, Maple Way Dental Care, and LPL.
For more information, contact LPL Adult & Teen Services at (207) 513-3135 or LPLReference@Gmail.com
