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Laura Kate Dale

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Laura Kate Dale
Born
Bournemouth, England
OccupationAuthor
SpouseJane Magnet-Dale
AwardsWins: MCV 30 Under 30 2015
Finalist: Games Media Wwards 2015 Rising Star, MCV Women in Games Awards 2019 Journalist of the Year
Websitelaurakbuzz.com

Laura Kate Dale is a video game journalist, author[1] and activist. She is known for writing about the transgender and autism communities in relation to video games and for her video game industry leaks.[1][2][3] Many of her topics tackle accessibility for disabled players and LGBTQ+ representation.

Game journalism

Dale has worked at gaming site Destructoid.[1][4] She was also the news editor for gaming site Kotaku UK for almost two years,[5] leaving the position in June 2019 to pursue other projects.[6] She has also written for The Guardian.[7]

Dale is known for her videogame leaks. She leaked the existence of Until Dawn: Rush of Blood in 2015 and the PlayStation 4 Slim in 2016. She also leaked details about the Nintendo Switch and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.[1]

She features as a weekly co-host on the podcast Podquisition, alongside gaming critic James Stephanie Sterling and Conrad Zimmerman. They discuss game industry news and adjacent topics in a mostly non-serious, amusing manner. Dale acts as the organisational force, preparing the topic list and getting the conversation back on track. A running joke of the series is that it would fall to chaos without her supervision due to the disorganisation and chaos of the other personalities.[8]

In May 2020, Dale launched a video series called "Access-ability" on YouTube, a show focused upon discussing the difficulties neurodivergent or disabled people face within video games, reviewing a variety of games and explaining what has and could be done to improve such experiences and make the video games industry a universally more accessible field. The series also focuses upon issues of LGBTQ+ representation within the medium, among other social issues that are pertinent to the topic.

Dale was awarded inclusion in MCV's 30 Under 30 list in 2015.[9] The same year she was a finalist for MCV's Games Media Awards 2015 Rising Star.[10] In 2019 she was a finalist for the MCV Women in Games Awards.[11]

Books

Dale has published five books. Her first book is Things I Learned From Mario's Butt: A Series of Gaming Butt Critiques, which was funded on the crowdfunding website Unbound in 2018.[2][3]

Her second book, a memoir called Uncomfortable Labels: My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman, was published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 2019.[12]

Her third book, Gender Euphoria: Stories of Joy from Trans, Non Binary and Intersex Writers, which was crowdfunded through Unbound and exceeded its funding goal, was published in 2021.[13] It was intended as a counterpoint to the focus so often placed on the negative aspects of being trans, such as gender dysphoria, and was instead written "to show the world the sheer variety of ways being non cisgender can be a beautiful, joyful experience".

Dale's fourth book, Who Hunts The Whale, is co-written by her wife Jane Magnet, and being funded through the crowdfunding publisher Unbound.[14] Who Hunts The Whale is Dale's first work of fiction. The website summary reads, "Who Hunts The Whale is a completely fictional, entirely made-up novel set in the imaginary world of the video gaming industry. Written with a gamer’s wit and an insider’s precision, it holds the real-world business up to a carnival house of mirrors, to give a satirical look at the human cost of a rapacious market that must constantly be fed new content."[14]

Dale's fifth book Me and My Dysphoria Monster is an children's picture book about the experiences of gender dysphoria in childhood. The book was illustrated by Ang Hui Qing, and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in August 2022.[15]

Activism

Dale collaborated with former founder of the Trans Rights Collective UK (disbanded in 2020), Felix Fern,[16][17] in 2021 to co-organise a 'trans rights' protest[18] outside Downing Street in London on 6 August 2021, calling on the government to implement better rights and equality for transgender and non-binary people in the United Kingdom.[19] The protest featured a roster of speakers including prominent UK trans activists such as Fox Fisher[20] and Roz Kaveney[21] as well as Dale herself,[22] and was attended by the British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.[23]

After the success of this protest, Dale went on to become one of the co-founders of the grassroots activism organisation Trans Rights Activism UK,[24] along with Felix Fern, Shaira Choudhury[25] and Amelia Decruz.[26]

She has since been part of other activism projects such as writing an open letter to the BBC that was signed by over 20,000 people,[27][28] calling for them to be held accountable for publishing the results of a study the letter labelled as "deeply flawed".

Personal life

Dale is married to podcaster Jane Magnet. Magnet and Dale cohost the podcast Queer & Pleasant Strangers together.[29] The couple, who are both train enthusiasts, married in August 2021 on board an Avanti West Coast train after winning a competition for a train-based wedding. The couple had planned to marry sooner but had delayed their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the requirement to obtain Gender Recognition Certificates in order to marry as women.[30][31][32]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Fennimore, Jack (7 August 2017). "Laura Kate Dale: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  2. ^ a b Weiss, Josh (19 October 2018). "There's a book about video game butts and we're not kidding in the slightest". SYFY WIRE. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b Stevens, Colin (18 October 2018). "An Upcoming Book Is All About Video Game Butts". IGN. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  4. ^ LauraKBuzz (21 June 2016). "Regarding Destructoid UK" – via Patreon..
  5. ^ Stanton, Rich (7 August 2017). "Introducing Our New News Editor, Laura Kate Dale". Kotaku UK. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  6. ^ Stanton, Rich (6 June 2019). "Farewell to Our News Editor, Laura Kate Dale". Kotaku UK. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Laura Kate Dale | The Guardian". the Guardian.
  8. ^ Podquisition 303: Kirby vs. Gandhi, retrieved 7 November 2020
  9. ^ "Meet MCV's 30 Under 30 2015". MCVUK. 14 February 2020.
  10. ^ "Games Media Awards 2015 Finalists: Rising Star". MCVUK. 14 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Here's the shortlist for the MCV Women in Games Awards 2019". MCVUK. 4 July 2019.
  12. ^ Dale, Laura Kate (2019). Uncomfortable Labels My Life As a Gay Autistic Trans Woman. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 9781785925887. OCLC 1104083940.
  13. ^ Gender Euphoria. ISBN 978-1-78965-145-4.
  14. ^ a b Who Hunts the Whale.
  15. ^ Haberstroh, Tobi (13 July 2022). "Me and my dysphoria monster". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  16. ^ Felix Fern & Closing Speech - Trans Rights Protest – Downing Street - August 6th 2021, retrieved 30 December 2021
  17. ^ "How to Be a Better Trans Ally, According to People at a Trans Rights Protest". www.vice.com. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  18. ^ "London trans rights protest condemns 'absolute shambles' of Tory government: 'This cannot go on'". PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBT+ news. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  19. ^ Dale, Laura (18 July 2021). "August 6th Trans Rights Protest Demands". LauraKBuzz.com. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  20. ^ Fox Fisher - Trans Rights Protest - Downing Street - August 6th 2021, retrieved 30 December 2021
  21. ^ Roz Kaveney - Trans Rights Protest – Downing Street - August 6th 2021, retrieved 30 December 2021
  22. ^ Trans Rights Protest - Laura Dale - Downing Street - August 6th 2021, retrieved 30 December 2021
  23. ^ @petertatchell (6 August 2021). "At trans rights protest #DowningStreet now. We demand reform of Gender Recognition Act, end to media vilification of trans people & better and faster #NHS trans health care. I stand in solidarity with trans community. @ThanielTrashCat ⁦@LaurakBuzz @Charlie_Craggs" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 December 2021 – via Twitter.
  24. ^ "@TransActivismUK" on Twitter
  25. ^ "@shairabambi" on Twitter
  26. ^ "@felix_f_fern" on Twitter
  27. ^ Dale, Laura (29 October 2021). "Trans Activism UK's Finalised Open Letter to the BBC". LauraKBuzz.com. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  28. ^ "Open letter signed by 16,000 calls for BBC apology over trans article". BBC News. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  29. ^ "LauraKBuzz". Laura K Buzz. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  30. ^ "Train-loving couple get 'dream come true' wedding onboard London to Birmingham service". inews.co.uk. 11 August 2021.
  31. ^ "A very moving service: Rail enthusiasts get married on train from London Euston". Sky News.
  32. ^ "Avanti train wedding: The couple who said 'I do' on a 125mph train to Birmingham". BBC News. 11 August 2021.
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