Eleanor Thom

Eleanor Thom (born 1979 in London)^[1] is a British writer. She won the 2006 New Writing Ventures competition with 'Burns', a chapter from her first novel The Tin-Kin.^[2] The book recalls experiences of her mother's family who were Scottish Travellers and settled in Elgin between 1920 and 1950. In 2009 The Tin-Kin won the Scottish First Book of the Year,^[3] and was shortlisted for the Not the Booker Prize.^[4]

Eleanor Thom
Born	1979 (age 45–46) London, England
Alma mater	University College London University of Glasgow University of the West of Scotland
Notable works	The Tin-Kin
Notable awards	Scottish First Book of the Year
Children	Oona Dooks
Website
www.eleanorthom.com

In 2008, Thom was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship to begin work on a second novel. Her second novel, Connective Tissue, was published in 2023.^[5]

In 2025, Thom and her daughter Oona Dooks were awarded the inaugural Sustainable Story Award by World of Books for Sea Legs, "a co-written memoir exploring interdependence, disabled whales, and our relationship with the marine environment."^[6]

Education

Thom studied Linguistics, French and Italian at University College London^[7] and has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow.^[1] In 2018 she completed a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of the West of Scotland.^[8]