Great Falls Forum to feature Maine novelist Paul Doiron

LEWISTON — The 2018-2019 season of the Great Falls Forum continues from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17, in Callahan Hall at the Lewiston Public Library. The forum will feature Maine novelist Paul Doiron, with a talk entitled “Telling Maine Stories.”

Mystery novels have long been viewed as entertaining but unserious books. In his talk, Doiron 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, he has found himself addressing topics that Mainers themselves identify as major problems for our state.

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, a Thriller Award for Best First Novel and the Maine Literary Award for Best Fiction of 2010. Published in 2017, “Knife Creek” was Paul’s bestselling novel to date.

He is editor emeritus of Down East: The Magazine of Maine, having served as editor in chief from 2005-2013, 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.

His novels have been translated into 11 languages: German, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Romanian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Czech and Finnish.

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.

The library is located downtown at 200 Lisbon St. at the corner of Pine Street. More information on Thursday’s lecture is available by contacting the library at 207-513-3135 or LPLReference@gmail.com.