Dawn Foster
Dawn Hayley Foster (12 September 1986 – 9 July 2021)[2] was an Irish-British journalist, broadcaster, and author writing predominantly on social affairs, politics, economics and women's rights. Foster held staff writer positions at Inside Housing, The Guardian, and Jacobin magazine,[3] and contributed to other journals such as The Independent,[4] The New York Times,[5] Tribune,[6] and Dissent.[7] She regularly appeared as a political commentator on television[8] and was known for her coverage of the Grenfell Tower fire.[2]
Dawn Foster
9 July 2021 (aged 34)
London, England
Writer, broadcaster
Early life and education[edit]
Foster was born in and grew up in Newport, South Wales.[2] She also had a background in Belfast and held dual British and Irish citizenship.[9] In articles for Child Poverty Action Group and The Guardian, she wrote that she grew up in poverty in an unemployed family. In 2017, Foster detailed early experiences of hunger and sleeping rough for the Food Memory Bank project.
She attended Caerleon Comprehensive School and Bassaleg High School before going on to study English literature at the University of Warwick.[10] Before going into journalism, Foster worked in politics and higher education.[11]
Media appearances[edit]
Television[edit]
Foster made regular appearances as a political commentator on television including Sky News, Channel 4 News,[37] and the BBC including BBC Newsnight[38] and BBC News.[39]
Radio and podcasts[edit]
Foster also regularly appeared on radio and podcasts in Britain and America. She was a frequent guest on Novara Media and made appearances to discuss austerity,[40] politics,[41][42] and housing in Britain.[43] Between 2020 and 2021, Foster also appeared on talkRADIO.[44]
In 2017, Foster appeared on The Independent's Double Take podcast to discuss solutions to Britain's housing emergency.
In 2020, the London Review Bookshop podcast released a conversation between Foster and the author Lynsey Hanley discussing Hanley's book Estates.[45] Hanley and Foster also discussed class in an episode released in 2016.[46] Other appearances on the London Review Bookshop podcast include Foster's 2017 conversation with the American poet and author Patricia Lockwood.[47][48]
Recorded panels[edit]
Recordings of Foster's appearances at The World Transformed include a 2016 panel titled "Building a Radical Media"[48] and a 2018 panel titled "Tribune: the relaunch",[49] organised by Tribune magazine.
In 2016, Foster took part in the Fawcett Society's 150th anniversary celebrations on a panel discussing feminism.[50]
Books[edit]
Lean Out[edit]
Foster's first book, Lean Out, was published in January 2016 by Repeater Books. In Foster's obituary in The Guardian Lean Out was described as "a rebuttal of Sheryl Sandberg's argument that corporate women could succeed by 'leaning in' to their careers, it skewered what Dawn called the 'self help' approach of corporate feminism."[12]
In January 2016, Foster was interviewed about Lean Out's politics by The Huffington Post. In it she discussed the book's response to Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, a 2013 book co-written by Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, and Nell Scovell, a TV and magazine writer. In the interview, Foster said.
Personal life[edit]
As a child, Foster practised Taekwondo.[61]
At the end of her life, Foster was based in South West London. She was a Roman Catholic.[62] In 2019, Foster wrote in The Guardian about rediscovering her faith after speaking to survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire.[63]
Foster's volunteer work included the Christmases she spent volunteering for homeless charities with ties to her church.[12]
Foster had epilepsy and schwannomatosis, and wrote about her experience of disabilities and disability rights.[64][65]
Death[edit]
Foster's friends and colleagues announced her death on 15 July 2021, at the age of 34. Foster had been discharged from hospital on 9 July and was found in her home, having died suddenly of complications related to her long-term health problems.[66]
Tributes were paid by fellow political commentators and journalists on social media as well as a number of politicians, including Jeremy Corbyn, Mary Lou McDonald, Angela Rayner, and John McDonnell.[67]