Fremont author Dallas Woodburn got an early start — she was 10 when the Los Angeles Times ran a review of her first book. Now 32, the prize-winning writer hosts a book lovers’ podcast called “Overflowing Bookshelves,” works with young writers at the Write On! Books organization she founded and is a Writer’s Grotto Fellow.
Her newest book, the bittersweet YA novel “The Best Week That Never Happened,” is set on the Big Island of Hawaii, where childhood best friends, Tegan and Kai, are suddenly reunited and things turn romantic — but Tegan has strange memory gaps and doesn’t know how she got there.
Q: Wait, you wrote your first book at age 10??
A: It was a project through my elementary school in Ventura. We had a grant to do something creative, and my idea was to put together all my poems and stories and make a book that would make money for my school. I just copied off all the pages, put them together and sold it for $5. I wasn’t afraid of rejection, so I sent it off to different newspapers and got the review in the L.A. Times book section.
Q: What made you want to be a writer?
A: I always loved reading — Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein. My dad, Woody Woodburn, was a sports columnist for the Ventura County Star and then the Daily Breeze. Seeing my dad at the newspaper office a lot and at home writing his column was my biggest influence.
Q: What inspired “The Best Week That Never Happened?”
A: I started writing it after one of my best friends was killed in a car accident. There was a line in my head — what would happen if we died and got to live the best week of our lives? I loved that idea. I got so excited to see what would happen next.
Q: Whom would you cast in a movie version?
A: I envision Kai as the Hawaiian actor Keahu Kahuanui, and Tegan by the actress Haley Pullos, who happens to be a Palo Alto native.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Another young adult novel — very slowly. It has a love story element and plays with the idea of alternate realities. The main characters are in a wrong reality, trying to get to a better one.
Q: Do you have a favorite indie bookstore here in the Bay Area?
A: There are so many good ones! I love Rakestraw in Danville — I lived (in that town) with my grandparents when I had the John Steinbeck Fellowship at San Jose State. I love Mrs. Dalloway’s in Berkeley. Also, Kepler’s in Menlo Park and Hicklebee’s in San Jose. Bookstores are my happy place. I can never leave without buying one or two books.
5 BOOK PICKS FROM WOODBURN:
“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger: I first read this book as a teen, and it changed the whole way I viewed storytelling.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee: I could read this book over and over again and never grow tired of it. I always cry at the end!
“Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson: This memoir-in-verse is categorized as “middle grade,” but I think it is a profound read for all ages. The language is so beautiful — it takes my breath away.
“A Heart in a Body in the World” by Deb Caletti: This novel will utterly break your heart and then fill it up again. A timely and timeless story of grief, healing, redemption and empowerment.
“Wooden and Me” by Woody Woodburn: My dad is my favorite writer. This is his memoir about his two-decade friendship with legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. My dad’s warmth and wisdom are felt on every page.
Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect that Woody Woodburn was a sports columnist for the Ventura County Star and then the Daily Breeze.
