Dawson, J. R.: - J.R. Dawson (she/they) is the Golden Crown award-winning author of The First Bright Thing. Her shorter works can be found in places such as F&SF, Lightspeed, and Rich Hortons Years Best. Dawson currently lives in Minnesota with her loving wife. She teaches at Drexel Universitys MFA program for Creative Writing, and fills her free time with keeping her three chaotic dogs out of trouble.