Dalene Young (June 29, 1939 — May 9, 2025) was an American screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor. She was best known for writing the coming-of-age comedy-drama Little Darlings (1980), featuring Tatum O’Neal and Kristy McNichol, and the Mary Steenburgen-starring drama Cross Creek (1983). Young received a Daytime Emmy nomination for co-writing the Showtime children’s special Locked in Silence (1999) and landed a Christopher Award and a Humanitas Prize nomination for her work on the NBC telefilm Jonathan: The Boy Nobody Wanted (1992).