Juno Dawson’s Lovely Trans Literary Salon with Kuchenga Shenjé

Always a highlight and audience favourite, we’re delighted to welcome Juno’s Lovely Trans Literary Salon back to the festival for the fifth year. This year, Juno Dawson will introduce debut novelist Kuchenga Shenjé (The Library Thief) as they each discuss their unique take on historical fiction, untold stories and other elusive truths. Witches might make an appearance too! Queen B, released in 2024, is the final book in Juno’s Sunday Times Bestselling trilogy, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. Or is it?

Join Juno and Kuchenga for an evening of joyful conversation and unapologetic straight talking – metaphorically speaking.  

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Kuchenga Shenjé is a writer, journalist and speaker with work on many media platforms including Stylist, British Vogue and Netflix. She has contributed short stories and essays to several anthologies, most notably It’s Not OK to Feel Blue (And OtherLies), Who’s Loving You and Loud Black Girls. Owing to a lifelong obsession with books and the written word, Kuchenga studied Creative Writing at The Open University. Her work is focused on the perils of loving, being loved and women living out loud throughout the ages. Her first novel The Library Thief is the ultimate marriage of her passions for history, mystery and rebels. She currently resides in Manchester where she is determined to continue living a life worth writing about.

Juno Dawson is a #1 Sunday Times best-selling novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and a columnist for Attitude Magazine. Juno’s books include the global bestsellers, THIS BOOK IS GAY and CLEAN. She won the 2020 YA Book Prize for MEAT MARKET. Her first adult fantasy trilogy HER MAJESTY’S ROYAL COVEN launched in 2022, becoming an instant best-seller.

She also writes for television and has multiple shows in development both in the UK and US. Her debut short film was THE BIRTH OF VENUS (BBC 2020) and she created the first official Doctor Who scripted podcast DOCTOR WHO: REDACTED (BBC Sounds 2022). An occasional actress and model, Juno had a cameo in the BBC’s I MAY DESTROY YOU (2020), a recurring role in HOLBY CITY (BBC 2021) and was the face of Jecca Cosmetics Play Pots campaign.

Juno grew up in West Yorkshire, writing imaginary episodes of Doctor Who. She later turned her talent to journalism, interviewing luminaries such as Steps and Atomic Kitten, before writing a weekly serial in a Brighton newspaper. Her writing has appeared in Glamour, The Pool, Dazed and the Guardian. She has appeared on Pointless Celebrities, BBC Women’s Hour, Front Row, ITV News, Channel 5 News, This Morning and Newsnight.

Juno lives in Brighton. She is a part of the queer cabaret collective known as CLUB SILENCIO. In 2014, Juno became a School Role Model for the charity STONEWALL.