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Juno Dawson

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Juno Dawson
Dawson at the British Library in 2023
Dawson at the British Library in 2023
Born (1981-07-10) 10 July 1981 (age 43)
Bingley, West Yorkshire, England
OccupationAuthor, columnist, actor
EducationBingley Grammar School
Alma materBangor University
GenreYoung adult fiction
Website
junodawson.com

Juno Dawson (born James Dawson;[1] born 10 July 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".

Life and career

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Dawson was born at Bradford Royal Infirmary in West Yorkshire.[2] Dawson lived in Bingley and was educated at Bingley Grammar School.[3][4] After graduating from Bangor University,[3] she worked as a primary school teacher and later became a PSHE co-ordinator.[5] While working as a teacher, she began writing books aimed at young adults and became successful enough to leave her job.[1] She wrote a number of young adult fiction books including Hollow Pike and Say Her Name.[6] Her books often feature LGBT people, and Dawson has advocated for other books to feature more prominent LGBT characters.[7]

In 2014, Dawson received the Queen of Teen award.[8][9]

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.[6][10] She was signed to write a column in Glamour magazine documenting her experience of transitioning.[11] She represents the LGBT charity Stonewall as a School Role Model.[12] Dawson sat on the judging panel for the 2016 BBC Young Writers' Award.[13]

In 2018, Dawson wrote the BBC Sounds spin-off podcast Doctor Who: Redacted, which launched in April 2022.[14] 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.[15]

In 2019, Dawson started the 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.[16]

Selected texts

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This Book Is Gay (2014)

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Main article: This Book is Gay

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.[17] The book is a "manual to all areas of life as an LGBT person"[18] and "is meant to serve as a guidebook for young people discovering their sexual identity and how to navigate those uncomfortable waters."[19]

This Book is Gay has faced controversy since its publication. In November 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.[20] Dawson responded by saying the event highlighted how "there is still such small-mindedness and hatred left to contend with."[21] 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."[22] 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.[23]

The Gender Games (2017)

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In 2017, Dawson published The Gender Games, her first book aimed at adults, discussing themes of gender as well as her own life experiences.[1][24] Television rights to the book were acquired in 2018 by SunnyMarch, the production company founded by Benedict Cumberbatch.[25]

The Good Doctor (2018)

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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.[26][27]

Awards

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In 2014 Dawson won the 'Queen of Teen' award, a biennial prize (discontinued in 2016) for young adult fiction writers.[8]

Her novel, Meat Market won the 2020 YA Book Prize.[28]

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

Works

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  • 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[29] (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)
  • What's The T? (2021)
  • Stay Another Day (2021)
  • Her Majesty’s Royal Coven (2022)
  • Doctor Who: Redacted (2022-2023) - BBC audio drama
  • The Shadow Cabinet (2023)
  • Queen B (2024)
  • Human Rites (2025)

References

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  1. ^ a b c 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.
  2. ^ Kay, Adam (2020). "Juno Dawson". Dear NHS 100 Stories to say Thank You. Orion Publishing Group, Limited. ISBN 978-1-3987-0118-2.
  3. ^ a b Juno Dawson (2017). The Gender Games.
  4. ^ Hogan, Michael (1 April 2018). "Juno Dawson: 'Teenagers have seen things that would make milk curdle'". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  5. ^ Armstrong, Rebecca (20 April 2018). "Juno Dawson on sex education: 'Nobody had thought to tell these young people that sex was pleasurable'". i. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  6. ^ a b Williams, Joe (24 October 2015). "International best selling author comes out as transgender". Pink news. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  7. ^ Hawkes, Rebecca (24 July 2015). "James Dawson: 'Young Adult literature should celebrate being gay'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  8. ^ a b Eyre, Charlotte (11 February 2016). "The Book People closes Queen of Teen award". The Bookseller. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  9. ^ Kelly, Caitlin (11 February 2016). "Queen of Teen dethroned". The Guardian.
  10. ^ Hawkes, Rebecca (14 October 2015). "YA author James Dawson: 'I'm becoming a transgender woman'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  11. ^ Duffy, Nick (5 January 2016). "'This Book is Gay' author to document her transition in Glamour". Pink News. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  12. ^ Levine, Nick (31 January 2017). "Juno Dawson on her life, her novel and debunking trans myths". Evening Standard. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  13. ^ "Transgender author Juno Dawson joins judging panel for BBC Young Writers' Award". The Telegraph. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  14. ^ "Tune into the new Doctor Who spin-off podcast, Redacted, from BBC Sounds | Doctor Who".
  15. ^ @junodawson (23 December 2020). "Here's me, my old nose, some hair extensions and THE DOCTOR. This was 2016 on the set of CLASS. Had there been a s…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ^ "Juno Dawson". IMDb.
  17. ^ "This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson". Gay's The Word. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  18. ^ Dawson, Juno (4 September 2014). "Why my book is gay: and I'm proud of it". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  19. ^ "Hilliard parents debate banning book from school libraries". NBC4. 14 March 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ Flood, Alison (26 November 2015). "James Dawson criticises parents who attacked his LGBT guide for children". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  22. ^ "Ban on 52 Books in Largest Utah School District is a Worrisome Escalation of Censorship". PEN America. 1 August 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  23. ^ Albanese, Andrew (24 April 2023). "ALA Releases Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 25 April 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  24. ^ Harrington, Suzanne (22 June 2017). "Author describes what it's like when a man becomes a woman". Irish Examiner.
  25. ^ Kroll, Justin (4 June 2018). "Benedict Cumberbatch's SunnyMarch Banner Lands TV Rights to Memoir 'The Gender Games'". Variety. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  26. ^ Cowdrey, Katherine (10 May 2018). "Alderman and Dawson to write Doctor Who tales". The Bookseller.
  27. ^ Alderman, Naomi (11 May 2018). "New Doctor Who regenerated in fiction by Juno Dawson and Naomi Alderman". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  28. ^ "Dawson's Meat Market wins the YA Book Prize | the Bookseller".
  29. ^ Auld, Tim (3 March 2016). "World Book Day 2016: which stories to buy with your £1 token". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
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