J.R. Dawson (she/they) is the Golden Crown award-winning author of The First Bright Thing. They have had shorter works in places such as F&SF, Lightspeed, and Uncanny. Dawson currently lives in Minnesota with her loving wife. She teaches at Drexel University’s MFA program for creative writing, and fills her free time with keeping her three chaotic dogs out of trouble. Her next book, The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World, releases from Tor in the summer of 2025. You can follow Dawson at jrdawsonwriter.com.