Author Interview: Survival Show by Juno Dawson

Juno Dawson has spent her career writing about what it costs to be yourself in a world that does not want you to be, and Survival Show is that same instinct dialed up to eleven. Taryn Beck lives in a Scottish refugee camp in a post-war world, and the only way out is to win Starmaker, the most watched reality TV show on the planet, where the losers are not just eliminated from the competition. Juno is a trans woman who knows something about navigating systems designed to consume you, and this interview is very much about that. Check out our interview below and pick up Survival Show, out August 4th!

Survival Show

by Juno Dawson
Published by: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Dystopian, Humor, Thriller, Young Adult
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American Idol meets The Hunger Games in this campy, dystopian satire about a teen betting her life that her singing talent can make her a star from the celebrated author of This Book Is Gay, Juno Dawson.

The world just seems to take and take from Taryn Beck, but there’s one thing it’ll never have: her voice. Only when she’s singing does Taryn feel like she can escape her reality—free from the aftermath of the War, free from the Scottish refugee camps where she and her family now live, and free from the responsibility of making ends meet for the sake of her sick brother.

Taryn’s voice is her one ticket out, and that’s why she enters to be a contestant on the world’s most watched television program: Starmaker, where kids from the New Peace Global Alliance compete for the chance to join an all-singing, all-dancing pop group. Rise to the top, and a life of luxury, stardom, and money awaits.

There’s only one small catch. The lowest ranking face a televised public execution. Starmaker thanks their participants for their noble sacrifice to Project Population.

Taryn’s about to sing for her life.

Interview with Juno Dawson

Juno, you’ve spent a lot of your career writing honestly about what it costs to be yourself in a world that doesn’t want you to be. Taryn is literally singing for her life in a system designed to consume her. How much of that felt personal to write?

I think Taryn’s dilemma is one of conformity. She recognizes the system is deeply toxic, yet she needs something from the establishment. I think that’s something a trans person can really identify with; I think the whole system around gender transition is outdated and flawed, but that’s all I had to work with. Taryn, like me, now has a platform and it’s really about how she can use her platform to attempt to change the system from within. This series is about the power of owning your voice, something which I think resonates whether you’re cis or trans.

The premise is pretty bleak but the book sounds fun. Where does the fun come from when the stakes are that dark?

I think it’s a very British thing. Gallows humor? I think one of the ways we deal with dystopian times is to satirize them. Autocrats are ego-driven, they hate being made fun of, so I think we have to keep doing it. From a business point of view, you do want people to read it! Especially when society is falling apart, art has the power to incite change, which is why despots always try to ban books.

Scottish refugee camps, a post-war world, a population control program dressed up as entertainment. That’s a lot of world to build. What were you most afraid of getting wrong?

If it’s your own work, I don’t think you can go wrong. It just has to make sense within the context you’ve created. So they’re killing kids on reality TV? Why? Oh, the population is being controlled. Why? Because resources are scarce… One thing must lead logically to the next. To be honest, a lot of these things aren’t entirely fictional, and that’s what makes writing dystopian fiction so compelling – it feels five-minutes-from-now.