Juno Dawson

Juno Dawson is a British author of young adult fiction and non-fiction on LGBT issues including This Book is Gay, Margot & Me, and The Gender Games.

Life and career

Born James Dawson, Juno Dawson was raised in West Yorkshire.[1] She worked as a school teacher in a variety of schools including Brighton's Elm Grove Primary school, where she began writing books aimed at young adults until she became successful enough to leave her teaching job.[2] She wrote a number of young adult fiction books including Hollow Pike and Say Her Name.[3] Her books often feature LGBT people, and Dawson has advocated for other books to feature more prominent LGBT characters.[4]

In 2014 Dawson wrote This Book is Gay, a non-fiction book aiming to be a "manual to all areas of life as an LGBT person."[5] A petition was started to remove the book from a public library in Wasilla, Alaska, with a number of residents criticising the library for stocking it, citing the profanity and sexually explicit text.[6] Dawson responded by saying that the event highlighted how "there is still such small-mindedness and hatred left to contend with."[7]

In 2015 Dawson came out as transgender, having begun her journey of transitioning 18 months prior, and beginning hormonal transition in early 2016.[3][8] She was signed to write a column in Glamour magazine documenting her experience of transitioning.[9] She represents the LGBT charity Stonewall as a School Role Model.[10]

Dawson sat on the judging panel for the 2016 BBC Young Writers' Award.[11]

In 2017 Dawson published The Gender Games, her first book aimed at adults, discussing themes of gender as well as her own life experiences.[2] Television rights to the book were acquired in 2018 by SunnyMarch, the production company founded by Benedict Cumberbatch.[12]

In 2018 it was announced that Dawson would be writing a novel called The Good Doctor, one of the first Doctor Who novels to feature the Thirteenth Doctor as played by Jodie Whittaker, to be released in October.[13][14]

Publications

  • 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)
  • Spot the Difference - written for World Book Day[15] (2016)
  • Margot & Me (2017)
  • The Gender Games (2017)
  • What is Gender? How Does it Define Us? and Other Big Questions (2017)
  • Grave Matter (2017)
  • Clean (2018)
  • Meat Market (Unreleased, 2019)

Awards

In 2014 Dawson was named Queen of Teen; an award given to writers of teen fiction.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Dawson, Juno. "About - Juno Dawson". Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  2. 1 2 Taylor, Marianne (28 May 2017). "'Transition is exhausting. No-one does it to be trendy': Author Juno Dawson on her new book The Gender Games". The Herald. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  3. 1 2 Williams, Joe (24 October 2015). "International best selling author comes out as transgender". Pink news. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Hawkes, Rebecca (24 July 2015). "James Dawson: 'Young Adult literature should celebrate being gay'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  5. ↑ "Why my book is gay: and I'm proud of it". The Guardian. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  6. ↑ Schaub, Michael (25 November 2015). "'This Book Is Gay,' an LGBT sex ed book for teens, is challenged in Wasilla, Alaska". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  7. ↑ Flood, Alison (26 November 2015). "James Dawson criticises parents who attacked his LGBT guide for children". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Hawkes, Rebecca (14 October 2015). "YA author James Dawson: 'I'm becoming a transgender woman'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  9. ↑ Duffy, Nick (5 January 2016). "'This Book is Gay' author to document her transition in Glamour". Pink News. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  10. ↑ Levine, Nick (31 January 2017). "Juno Dawson on her life, her novel and debunking trans myths". Evening Standard. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  11. ↑ "Transgender author Juno Dawson joins judging panel for BBC Young Writers' Award". The Telegraph. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  12. ↑ Kroll, Justin (4 June 2018). "Benedict Cumberbatch's SunnyMarch Banner Lands TV Rights to Memoir 'The Gender Games'". Variety. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  13. ↑ Cowdrey, Katherine (10 May 2018). "Alderman and Dawson to write Doctor Who tales". The Bookseller.
  14. ↑ Alderman, Naomi (11 May 2018). "New Doctor Who regenerated in fiction by Juno Dawson and Naomi Alderman". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  15. ↑ Auld, Tim (3 March 2016). "World Book Day 2016: which stories to buy with your £1 token". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  16. ↑ Hawkes, Rebecca (11 July 2014). "James Dawson named 2014 Queen of Teen". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
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