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.

She was co-editor of openDemocracy 50:50[11] and wrote for numerous publications including The New York Times, Tribune, and the London Review of Books.

Her tenure at The Guardian came to an end in mid-2019 after she wrote an opinion piece criticising then deputy leader of the Labour Party Tom Watson and suggesting he should quit.

Her work there includes reports into hoarding,[15] interviews with social geographer Danny Dorling[16] and Welsh politician Tanni Grey-Thompson,[17] and investigations into how periods impact homeless women.

"[19] It was during Foster's role at Inside Housing that International Building Press organisation named her 2014's IBP new journalist of the year.

In 2015, the London Review of Books' cover story for its 7 May issue was an article written by Foster criticising the free school movement.

When I mentioned his name in the course of interviewing a former Department for Education employee for the piece, my interviewee headbutted the restaurant table in exasperation.

[24] One year on from the Grenfell fire, Foster discussed the political aftermath and the survivors' struggle for justice with writer and editor James Butler on Novara Media.

[25] Whilst attending the 2018 Conservative party conference, Foster uncovered an oversight in the event's mobile app that allowed any user to access personal details and phone numbers of attendees including Boris Johnson and senior members of Theresa May's cabinet.

Journalists present at the event included Foster who challenged Braverman's use of the term 'cultural Marxism' highlighting its anti-Semitic history and its connection to the manifesto of mass murderer Anders Breivik.

[26][27][28] Foster wrote numerous articles against transphobia in British media[29][30] and was one of more than 200 feminists who signed a letter to The Guardian in 2020 rejecting the argument that transgender rights are a threat to women.

[33] Foster told PinkNews: "It's been awful to see the rhetoric around trans issues dragged back to the 80s by a handful of obsessive, middle-class newspaper columnists, the bloke who wrote Father Ted and then failed to be funny ever again, cheered on by internet-obsessed women on Mumsnet.

[46] Other appearances on the London Review Bookshop podcast include Foster's 2017 conversation with the American poet and author Patricia Lockwood.

The Independent on Sunday called Lean Out, "A very important, much-needed and well-researched book that isn't afraid to ask the right questions and demand answers.

In Times Higher Education, writer and academic Shahidha Bari wrote that the book was, "Vigorous...trenchant...a robust critique...its conclusion is both inevitable and startling."

[59] According to Foster's obituary in The Guardian, she had been working on a second book, Where Will We Live?, about the history of and solutions to the housing crisis: she had one chapter left to write before being sidelined by illness.

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.

[71][72][73] In 2022, this prize was awarded to Jessica Field's essay on #SaveOurHomesLS26: a resident action group in Leeds campaigning to save their prefabricated tenanted homes.