Dashka Slater

Mark Pritchard has an interview with Oakland writer Dashka Slater.

I've been following Dashka's work for a long time. Her son and my daughter attend the same school and we both covered Alameda County politics at the same time; I wrote for the San Jose Mercury News and she wrote for the East Bay Express. I remember we both wrote articles about Don Perata, a nimble politician who was leaving the Board of Supervisors for a seat in the Assembly. I had gotten some great dirt on Perata’s cronyism and was pleased with my piece, but I was astounded at the eloquent and literary way Dashka managed to write about the man.

Since then, Dashka has written a novel, The Wishing Box, which received many accolades. She has also won a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts and has published some children’s books and a non-fiction book. Here’s a snippet from Pritchard’s interview:

“I often say that I suffer from Writer's ADD because I work in many genres -- fiction, journalism, and children's books. I'm usually working on far too many projects at once. So at the moment I'm working simultaneously on a short story collection, a longer work of fiction, a half dozen books for children that are in various stages of completion, and a couple of magazine articles.”