J.R. Daw­son (she/​they) has pub­lished short­er works in places such as F&SF, Light­speed, and The Year’s Best Sci­ence Fic­tion and Fan­ta­sy. She lives in Oma­ha, Nebras­ka, with her spouse and three dogs in the mid­dle of a city park. Hav­ing earned a BFA from The The­atre School at DePaul and an MFA in Cre­ative Writ­ing from Stonecoast, Daw­son works at Nebras­ka Writ­ers Col­lec­tive and oth­er Mid­west­ern non­prof­its that teach kids the pow­er of per­for­mance and sto­ry­telling. The First Bright Thing is her first novel.