Juno Dawson

Juno Dawson (formerly James Dawson; born 10 June 1981) is an English author of young adult fiction and non-fiction.

Dawson's notable works include This Book Is Gay, Mind Your Head, Margot & Me, The Gender Games, Clean, Meat Market, and the series, "Her Majesty's Royal Coven".

Dawson was born at Bradford Royal Infirmary in West Yorkshire and was assigned male at birth.

Dawson lived in Bingley and was educated at Bingley Grammar School.

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 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 people, and Dawson has advocated for other books to feature more prominent LGBT characters.

In 2014, Dawson received the Queen of Teen award.

This Book Is Gay, illustrated by Spike Gerrell, was first published in the UK in September 2014 with subsequent publication in the US in June 2015.

The book is a "manual to all areas of life as an LGBT person" and "is meant to serve as a guidebook for young people discovering their sexual identity and how to navigate those uncomfortable waters."

This Book is Gay has faced controversy since its publication.

In November of 2014, residents of Wasilla, Alaska petitioned 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 2022, it was listed among 52 books banned by the Alpine School District following the implementation of Utah law H.B. 374, "Sensitive Materials In Schools."

Ultimately, it tied for the tenth-most banned and challenged books in the United States that year, according to the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom.

In 2014 Dawson won the 'Queen of Teen' award, a biennial prize (discontinued in 2016) for young adult fiction writers.

In 2015, Dawson came out as a transgender 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.

In 2018, 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 range.

Dawson was supposed to write an episode for the second series of Class, but the show was cancelled.

Television rights to the book were acquired in 2018 by SunnyMarch, the production company founded by Benedict Cumberbatch.

In early 2018, it was announced Dawson would write The Good Doctor, one of the first Doctor Who novels to feature the Thirteenth Doctor as played by Jodie Whittaker.

The novel was released in October 2018.

In 2019, Dawson began started the popular Sex and the City podcast 'So I Got To Thinking'.

Her co-host is journalist and QX editor Dylan B Jones.

She also has small acting roles in I May Destroy You and Holby City.

Her novel, 'Meat Market' won the YA Book Prize 2020.

'Her Majesty's Royal Coven' won the 2022 Books Are My Bag Reader's Award for Best Fiction.