Woody Brown’s debut novel highlights community, connection, and the voices too often left out of literature.
In 2022, Woody Brown broke barriers as the first nonspeaking autistic student to graduate from UCLA. Now, he’s preparing to make history again as a novelist.
Brown’s debut work, Upward Bound, will be released in spring 2026 through Hogarth, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The novel offers an intimate look into life at a Los Angeles adult day program for people with disabilities, weaving together the stories of staff and participants whose lives intersect in surprising and moving ways.
Through characters like Jorge, a nonspeaking attendee longing for friendship, Tom navigates life with cerebral palsy and a crush, and Ann, the lifeguard who becomes an unlikely anchor, Brown shines a light on experiences often overlooked in mainstream literature. Walter, a recent graduate who returns to the community after a family tragedy, is at the heart of the book, linking the stories with themes of resilience, connection, and visibility.
For Brown, the novel is deeply personal. He shared that the story explores “what-ifs”—what his life might have looked like without access to communication supports or a family that fought for his independence. More than anything, Upward Bound challenges readers to question assumptions about disability and recognize the strength and complexity within these communities.
What makes Brown’s approach so powerful is his insistence that his novel stands on the merits of good writing first, while also inviting readers to learn something along the way. By doing so, he entertains and broadens perspectives, offering a window into a world too often overlooked.
Upward Bound will be released on March 31, 2026, and is currently available for preorder.