A dozen of this region's finest writers, including three winners of the National Book Award, will publish work in the Post-Intelligencer in the coming year under a yearlong program of P-I Writers in Residence.

The new program kicks off next Friday with work by Pete Dexter, the Whidbey Island resident who won the National Book Award in 1988 for "Paris Trout."

Each month, the work of a different writer in residence will be spotlighted in the P-I. The program was inspired by a similar program at the San Francisco Examiner that was run by David McCumber, now the P-I's managing editor.

McCumber wanted to resurrect the popular Examiner feature, believed to be the first such newspaper program in the country and still one of the few to feature a series of writers. But he vowed to make a significant change in the program at the P-I -- focusing on the strong community of writers in the Northwest.

"I'm really thrilled that we've gotten a great response from many of the best writers in this area," McCumber said. "This is a wonderful way to recognize their talent and also give P-I readers something very special."

Indeed, the roster of P-I writers in residence includes some of the best-known and most respected of Northwest authors: Sherman Alexie, Rebecca Brown, Charles Cross, Dexter, Ivan Doig, Timothy Egan, Ellen Forney, David Guterson, Charles Johnson, Jonathan Raban, Tom Robbins and Ann Rule.

McCumber pointed out that each of the writers in residence has agreed to take part in an informal meeting with the newspaper's writers and editors, so that they also will benefit from the authors' knowledge, experience and expertise.

"It's a great opportunity for the staff as well," he said.

Pieces to be published in the P-I by the writers in residence are expected to be new work, unpublished past work or work excerpted from upcoming books. They will vary in length and range through several different genres in fiction and non-fiction. Forney, a young graphic novelist from Seattle, likely will contribute something in that increasingly popular format.

Brief biographies of the P-I Writers in Residence

Sherman Alexie

Best known, perhaps, for "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven," his debut collection of stories that won the PEN/Hemingway Award in 1993. Alexie grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation, graduated from Washington State and soon relocated to Seattle. A prolific writer of short stories, novels and poetry, Alexie is also a renowned stand-up performer who held the World Heavyweight Poetry Championship from 1998 to 2001. Named in 1996 by Granta magazine as one of the 20 Best Young American Novelists, as well as one of 20 Writers for the 21st Century by the New Yorker. Branched out into films with "Smoke Signals" and "The Business of Fancydancing." A dedicated basketball player and Seattle Sonics season-ticket holder. His most recent book is "Dangerous Astronomy," a limited-edition poetry chapbook published in 2005.

Rebecca Brown

Best known for "The Gifts of the Body," a haunting novel about an AIDS caregiver published in 1994 that went on to win a Lambda Award. A resident of Seattle, Brown was the first writer in residence at Richard Hugo House and has taught writing often at that literary center on Capitol Hill. She now directs the literature program at the Centrum Foundation in Port Townsend, including its popular summer writers conference. Brown's wide-ranging work has probed such little-explored literary territory as a dance opera, a quasi-dictionary and a collaboration with a visual artist. Brown's writing is known for its spare language and powerful imagery. Her most recent book is "The Last Time I Saw You," from 2006.

Charles Cross

Best known for "Heavier Than Heaven," a biography of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain that won the ASCAP Timothy White Award for outstanding biography in 2002. A Seattle resident, Cross rose to local journalistic prominence as editor of the much-praised alternative-music magazine The Rocket, which he headed for 14 years. Also a recognized authority on Bruce Springsteen who has published freelance articles in such major publications as Rolling Stone, Esquire, Playboy and Spin. Cross followed his Cobain biography with one of another Northwest icon, Jimi Hendrix, and is at work on another, of Bruce Lee. Plays no musical instruments and cannot sing, although wishes he could. His most recent book is "Room Full of Mirrors," his Hendrix biography in 2005.

Pete Dexter

Best known for "Paris Trout," winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1988. Dexter, a resident of Whidbey Island, worked as a much-heralded newspaper columnist in Philadelphia and Sacramento while also branching into writing novels and screenplays. His syndicated column ran for three years in the P-I. A 1991 TV film version of "Paris Trout" starred Dennis Hopper and Ed Harris. Dexter's work is known for its gritty detail and its mix of mordant wit and raw violence. His most recent book is the just-published "Paper Trails" (Ecco, 289 pages, $25.95), a powerhouse collection of his newspaper and magazine work.

Ivan Doig

Best known for "This House of Sky," his 1980 debut that is regarded as a classic Western memoir about growing up on a ranch in Montana; it was a finalist for the National Book Award. Doig's background includes stints as a ranch hand, a newspaperman and a magazine editor. He has a doctorate in history from the University of Washington. Although a resident of Seattle for four decades, Doig often is thought of as a Montana writer since so many of his novels and memoirs are set under the Big Sky. His work is known for its humanity and its attention to historic detail. When the San Francisco Chronicle took a poll to name the West's best books of fiction and non-fiction in 1999, Doig was the only writer to make both lists. His most recent book is "The Whistling Season," published last year to some of the most enthusiastic reviews of his work in years.

Timothy Egan

Best known for "The Worst Hard Time," his riveting account of the Dust Bowl that won last year's National Book Award in non-fiction. Egan's early reputation was built largely upon "The Good Rain," his 1990 debut that has long been regarded as one of the pivotal accounts of the present-day Northwest. A onetime reporter for the Post-Intelligencer, Egan moved on to The New York Times, where he long has been a national reporter based in Seattle and shared in the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for a series on race in America. An unrepentant Northwest chauvinist with a passion for the region's outdoor pursuits, muscular cabernets and sports teams (Mariners, Huskies). His most recent book is "The Worst Hard Time," currently the No. 1-selling trade paperback in Northwest independent bookstores.

Ellen Forney

Best known for "I Love Led Zeppelin: Panty Dropping Comics," a 2006 collection of graphic work published by Fantagraphics Books, the Seattle-based publisher in the forefront of the sudden rise to prominence of the graphic novel. A resident of Seattle since 1989, Forney has had her cartoons and illustrations published in the Stranger, L.A. Weekly and BUST magazine. "I Love Led Zeppelin" featured an introduction by Sherman Alexie; the two are now collaborating on an upcoming book. Forney teaches comics at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. She is proud owner of a silver 1968 Mercury Cougar. Her most recent book is "I Love Led Zeppelin."

David Guterson

Best known for "Snow Falling on Cedars," winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction in 1994; a high-profile film version was released in 1998. A former high school English teacher, he is a longtime resident of Bainbridge Island. Guterson has written a collection of short stories, a non-fiction book on home-schooling and three novels, all set in the Northwest with many evocative descriptions of the region's varied landscapes. Named in 1996 by Granta magazine as one of 20 Best Young American Novelists. Mentor at the University of Washington was Charles Johnson. A newspaper carrier for the Seattle P-I in his Seattle youth. His most recent book is "Our Lady of the Forest" published in 2003.

Charles Johnson

Best known for "Middle Passage," winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1990. Started his career as a cartoonist who satirized race relations. A longtime resident of Seattle, Johnson holds an endowed chair in creative writing at the University of Washington. A prolific writer of short stories, essays, screenplays and novels, including a richly imagined look at the last two years of crisis in the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. ("Dreamer"). Johnson is a recipient of a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation, as well as an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A martial-arts expert. His most recent book is "Dr. King's Refrigerator and Other Bedtime Stories" published in 2005.

Jonathan Raban

Best known, perhaps, for "Bad Land: An American Romance," winner of the National Book Critics Award for non-fiction in 1996. A native of England, Raban has lived in Seattle since 1990. Much of his early reputation was based upon a series of first-person travel books that helped fuel the remarkable resurgence in the popularity of that genre of literary non-fiction. A frequent commentator on American affairs in British and American publications. Known for his incisive wit and his perennial outsider persona in his writings. An avid sailor who chronicled his voyage to Alaska in "Passage to Juneau." After two decades devoted to non-fiction, he returned to the novel in 2003 with "Waxwings," a portrait of Seattle in the dot-com era. His most recent book is "Surveillance," another Seattle-set novel published this month.

Tom Robbins

Best known for "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," his 1976 classic that became a 1993 film by director Gus Van Sant. A native of Blowing Rock, N.C., Robbins moved to La Conner in 1970 on April Fool's Day and has been there since. Has become an automatic denizen of the best-seller lists, with his past seven books in a row achieving that level of popularity. Work translated into 22 foreign languages, most recently Lithuanian. Named among "100 Best Writers of the 20th Century" by Writer's Digest magazine. Spent four years early in his career as a fill-in copy editor at the Seattle P-I. Deadly serious about "playfulness" in his richly comic work. Collects children's toy motorcycles and vintage canvas circus banners. His most recent book is "Wild Ducks Flying Backwards," a 2005 collection of his non-fiction pieces that Robbins vows is the closest he will ever venture to memoir.

Ann Rule

Best known for "The Stranger Beside Me," her chilling 1980 book that recounted working in the Seattle Crisis Clinic with a handsome and personable young man who turned out to be Ted Bundy, the notorious serial killer. A longtime Seattle resident, Rule worked for the Seattle Police Department before turning full time to writing in 1969. Has had 20 books on The New York Times best-seller list on her way to becoming one of the country's most popular and prolific writers on true crime. Won a Peabody Award for TV miniseries ("Small Sacrifices") based on one of her books. Took an exhaustive look at the Green River murders by Gary Ridgway in 2004's "Green River, Running Red." Devoted collector of antique bottles, teddy bears and police paraphernalia. Her latest book is "No Regrets," the 11th in a paperback series of "Ann Rule's True Crime Files."

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