Claire works as a university lecturer and is author of two academic books and numerous scholarly articles and chapters. Small is her first book for a general audience.
Claire's Four Thought talk 'The Other Mother' was first broadcast on BBC Radio Four this year and her first piece of narrative non-fiction took second place in the Spread the Word Life Writing Prize in 2017.
She was a shortlisted writer on the Penguin Random House WriteNow scheme in 2018, and long-listed for the Hinterland non-fiction Prize in 2019. In 2020, her writing was shortlisted for the London Library Emerging Writer's Programme and the Arvon Short Story competition.