Today we present our exclusive SDCC 2015 interview with Ava Dellaira, the YA author of her best-selling debut novel, Love Letters to the Dead. The book is already slated for a movie adaptation under Temple Hill Entertainment and Fox 2000, the same studios that brought us the movie adaptation of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.
Currently, the movie is in its pre-production phase, with director Catherine Hardwicke, who will be working on the script with Dellaira, with a tentative filming start date in early 2016.
But for now, it’s all about Ava and her time at San Diego Comic-Con. We talk about her book, the famous celebrities chosen for her book, her background in the film industry – including co-editing Stephen Chbosky‘s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and the challenges of adapting the book to film.
About Love Letters to the Dead:
It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person.
Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to the dead—to people like Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, Amelia Earhart, and Amy Winehouse—though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating the choppy waters of new friendships, learning to live with her splintering family, falling in love for the first time, and, most important, trying to grieve for May. But how do you mourn for someone you haven’t forgiven?
It’s not until Laurel has written the truth about what happened to herself that she can finally accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was—lovely and amazing and deeply flawed—can she truly start to discover her own path.
In a voice that’s as lyrical and as true as a favorite song, Ava Dellaira writes about one girl’s journey through life’s challenges with a haunting and often heartbreaking beauty.
About Ava:
Born in Los Angeles, CA, grew up in Albuquerque, NM, where she and her sister “spent countless summer afternoons making fairy potions, battling evil witches, and playing other imaginary games that probably contributed to my proclivity to make up stories.”
She went on to college at the University of Chicago, receiving her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Afterwards, she moved to Los Angeles to try to become a screenwriter, and got a job working for another YA author/screenwriter Stephen Chbosky. He encouraged her to write her own novel, which she did soon after.
She continues to live in Santa Monica, more than likely having an awesome time making the most of her dream.
Ava Dellaira’s website: avadellaira.com
Ava’s Twitter: @avadellaira
Ava’s Facebook: avadellairaauthor