Juno Dawson

Born James Dawson and assigned male at birth, Juno Dawson was raised in West Yorkshire. She worked as a school teacher, where she began writing books aimed at young adults until she became successful enough to leave her teaching 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 wrote This Book is Gay, a non-fiction book aiming to be a "manual to all areas of life as an LGBT person." 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. Dawson responded by saying that the event highlighted how "there is still such small-mindedness and hatred left to contend with."

In 2015 Dawson came out as transgender, having begun her journey of transitioning 18 months prior, and beginning hormonal transition in early 2016. She was signed to write a column in Glamour magazine documenting her experience of transitioning.

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. She represents the LGBT charity Stonewall as a School Role Model.

• 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 (2016)
• Margot & Me (2017)
• The Gender Games (2017)
• What is Gender? How Does it Define Us? and Other Big Questions (2017)
• Grave Matter - unreleased (October 2017)

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