Dallas Woodburn is an author, writing teacher, freelance journalist, motivational speaker, and literacy advocate. She is the author of two self-published books: There's a Huge Pimple on My Nose and 3 a.m. and the forthcoming short story collection Woman, Running Late, in a Dress. She is also the founder of Write On! Books, an organization dedicated to encouraging young people to read and write, through which she edits and publishes the series of books by young writers called Dancing with The Pen. Her nonfiction has been published in numerous national publications, her short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her plays have been produced in Los Angeles and New York City.
''There's a Huge Pimple on My Nose''
Woodburn's first book There's a Huge Pimple on My Nose was self-published when she was 10 years old in 5th grade. It sold thousands of copies. It is a collection of short poems and stories with black-and-white illustrations. The forty pages of this book include the stories There's A Huge Pimple On My Nose, The Magic Eye, D.A.R.E. To Say "No", The Cat And The Dog and The Panda. The poems include Peanut Butter Surprise, The Shot For Glory, The Perfect Place, Yosemite Falls, Fantastic Fall, A Friend, Ocean Kings, Masterpiece and "My Monday Guy." The book was reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, The Ventura County Star and Girls' Life Magazine. Years later, some of the poems were adapted into a song-cycle by composer Alex Marthaler at Carnegie Mellon University.
''3 a.m.''
Her second book 3 a.m. came out in June 2005, right after Woodburn finished high school. It is a collection of self-published short stories available on Amazon.com. The cover was designed by Greg Woodburn, her brother. The stories included are The 74-Year-Old Rookie, Lost and Found, The Hitchhiker, Just Friends, How I Became a Coffee Addict, Red, Wishing on Upside-Down Stars and A Real Beauty. The book is 123 pages long. The book was given praise by many other authors including Laurie Stolarz, Catherine Clark, and Randy Powell. It was also featured on the nationally syndicated PBS book talk show "Between the Lines," making Woodburn the youngest guest in the show's history.
Published Articles
As a freelance journalist, Dallas has published many articles and essays in magazines, newspapers and books including:
First place in Byline Magazine's Short Story Contest
First place in Let's Write Literary Contest
Jackie Kennedy-Onassis/Jefferson Award
Gold Congressional Award
Two time first place youth winner of the Ventura Poetry Festival
CosmoGIRL! magazine's "Girl of the Month"
Santa Barbara Book Fair held a "Dallas Woodburn Day" in her honor
''Write On! For Literacy''
In 2001, Woodburn founded the non-profit organization Write On! For Literacy. This organization is dedicated to encouraging kids to discover confidence, joy, connection and self-expression through reading and writing. The organization's website is . Woodburn puts on writing contests for kids and teens, publishes book reviews, and holds a Summer Writing Camp in her hometown of Ventura, California. She also leads an annual Holiday Book Drive that donates new books to underprivileged children nationwide. More than 11,000 books have been donated through charities including the Boys and Girls Club, Casa Pacifica, Project Understanding, and the Ventura County Migrant Education Services. Woodburn also uses proceeds from her books to endow a Write On! Scholarship which sends youth to summer writing camps in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.