Juno Dawson (formerly James Dawson; born 10 June 1981) is a British author of

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

and non-fiction. Dawson's notable works include ''This Book Is Gay'', ''Mind Your Head'', ''Margot & Me'', ''The Gender Games'', ''Clean'' and ''Meat Market''.

Life and career

Dawson was born at Bradford Royal Infirmary in West Yorkshire. Dawson lived in

Bingley Bingley is a market town and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which had a population of 18,294 at the 2011 Census. Bingley railwa ...

and was educated at

Bingley Grammar School Bingley Grammar School (BGS) is a Voluntary aided school for students from the ages of 11–18 and is located on the outskirts of Bingley, West Yorkshire, England. Bingley Grammar School was a specialist school for Business & Enterprise from ...

. After graduating from Bangor University, she worked as a primary school teacher and later became a PSHE co-ordinator. While working as a teacher, she began writing books aimed at

young adults A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

and became successful enough to leave her job. She wrote a number of young adult fiction books including ''Hollow Pike'' and ''Say Her Name''. Her books often feature

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

people, and Dawson has advocated for other books to feature more prominent LGBT characters. In September 2014,''This Book Is Gay'', was first published in the UK with subsequent publication in the US in June 2015. The book is a "manual to all areas of life as an LGBT person." Several months after US publication, in November, the book was challenged in

Wasilla, Alaska Wasilla ( Dena'ina: ''Benteh'') is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, United States and the fourth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part of the ...

when a petition was started to remove the book from a public library, with a number of residents objecting to profanity and sexually explicit content. Dawson responded by saying the event highlighted how "there is still such small-mindedness and hatred left to contend with." In the same year, Dawson received the Queen of Teen award. In 2015, Dawson came out as a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

woman, having begun her journey of transitioning 18 months prior. She began hormonal transition in early 2016. She was signed to write a column in '' Glamour'' magazine documenting her experience of transitioning. She represents the LGBT charity Stonewall as a School Role Model. Dawson sat on the judging panel for the 2016 BBC Young Writers' Award. In 2017, Dawson published ''The Gender Games'', her first book aimed at adults, discussing themes of gender as well as her own life experiences. Television rights to the book were acquired in 2018 by SunnyMarch, the

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

founded by

Benedict Cumberbatch Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a British Academy Television Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence Oli ...

. In early 2018, it was announced Dawson would write ''The Good Doctor'', one of the first '' Doctor Who'' novels to feature the

Thirteenth Doctor The Thirteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the fictional protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme, ''Doctor Who''. She is portrayed by English actress Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to portray the character, st ...

as played by

Jodie Whittaker Jodie Whittaker (born 17 June 1982) is an English actress who is best known for portraying the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2017–2022) and as Beth Latimer in ''Broadchurch'' (2013–2017). She came to prominence ...

. The novel was released in October 2018. As well as writing a novel, Dawson wrote the BBC Sounds spin-off podcast ''Doctor Who: Redacted'', which launched in April 2022. She has also contributed audio plays for the Big Finish

Torchwood ''Torchwood'' is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growin ...

range. Dawson was supposed to write an episode for the second series of ''

Class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

'', but the show was cancelled. Dawson has small acting roles in '' I May Destroy You'' and '' Holby City''. In 2022, Dawson's ''This Book is Gay'' was listed among 52 books banned by the

Alpine School District Alpine School District is the primary school district in northern Utah County, Utah, United States The district covers Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Fort, Cedar Hills, Eagle Mountain, Fairfield, Highland, Lehi, Lindon, Orem, Pleasant Grove, ...

following the implementation of Utah law H.B. 374, “Sensitive Materials In Schools."

Awards

In 2014 Dawson won the 'Queen of Teen' award, a biennial prize (discontinued in 2016) for young adult fiction writers. Her novel, 'Meat Market' won the YA Book Prize 2020.

Works

* ''Hollow Pike'' (2012) * ''Cruel Summer'' (2013) * ''Being a Boy'' (2013) * ''Say Her Name'' (2014) * ''This Book Is Gay'' (2014) * ''Under My Skin'' (2015) * ''All of the Above'' (2015) * ''Mind Your Head'' (2016) * ''Torchwood: The Dollhouse'' (2016) * ''Spot the Difference'' - written for

World Book Day World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day or International Day of the Book, is an annual event organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to promote reading, publishing, and co ...

(2016) * ''Margot & Me'' (2017) * ''The Gender Games'' (2017) * ''What is Gender? How Does it Define Us? and Other Big Questions'' (2017) * ''Grave Matter'' (2017) * ''Torchwood: Orr'' (2017) * ''Clean'' (2018) * ''Doctor Who: The Good Doctor'' (2018) * ''Meat Market'' (2019) * ''Proud'' (2019) * ''Wonderland'' (2020) * ''Whats The T?'' (2021) * ''Stay Another Day'' (2021) * ''Her Majesty’s Royal Coven'' (2022) * ''Doctor Who: Redacted'' (2022) - BBC audio drama

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Juno (writer) 1981 births Living people Alumni of Bangor University People educated at Bingley Grammar School People from Bingley 21st-century British women writers British writers of young adult literature English science fiction writers English LGBT writers Transgender actresses Transgender women Transgender writers Transgender rights activists Writers of Doctor Who novels English LGBT actors