self-portrait
Claire Thom (born November 28, 1981, London, England), Scottish poet, teacher, and school examiner. She is founder and editor-in-chief of The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press, a non-profit, volunteer-run indie publisher, which has produced several anthologies including To Live Here: A Haiku Anthology (2023). Thom is also cohost and producer of The Wee Sparrow Poetry Podcast. Her haikai are widely published in print and online journals including Blithe Spirit, Cold Moon Journal, Contemporary Haibun Online, Failed Haiku, the Nick Virgilio Haiku Society’s Haiku in Action, the Japan Society London’s Haiku Corner, Hedgerow, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Shadow Pond Journal, Mainichi Haiku in English, Under the Bashō, and Wales Haiku Journal, as well as BHS members’ anthologies. Thom is a Kyoto Haiku Project ambassador, a member of the British Haiku Society, and a Touchstone Award for Individual Haiku nominee. Her monograph Wildflowers in Oyster Stone (2025) is a collection of haikai and tanka inspired by life in Cádiz, Spain, where she currently resides.
Note: This is an abstract of a longer biographical article to come.