Claire Cock-Starkey
I have been writing professionally for over twenty years and in that time I have written six illustrated books for children on folklore, myths and legend: Mythology Land (Frances Lincoln, 2025); four titles in the Lore of series for Wide Eyed Editions: Lore of the Wild (2021), Lore of the Land (2022), Lore of the Stars (2023) and Lore of the Deep (2024), plus Folk Stories & Tall Tales, a collection of North American folk stories for Kane Miller (2024).
Additionally, I’ve written 13 fact-filled books on history, libraries, words, books and museums for adults, including: Seeing the Bigger Picture (Michael O’Mara, 2012), The Book Lovers’ Miscellany (Bodleian Library Publishing, 2017) and Hyphens & Hashtags (Bodleian Library Publishing, 2018).
I also regularly write articles on quirky history for Mental Floss and entertaining listicles for children’s science magazine Whizz Pop Bang.
I started out in media, working at BBC Radio Four and Five Live before going on to work at LBC. From there I found my spiritual home working with Ben Schott, starting out as researcher on the Sporting, Gaming and Idling Miscellany. I went on to help develop the format for Schott’s Almanac, working as Assistant Editor on the first two books before rising to become UK & Series Editor on the four subsequent UK books, three German and three US editions.
Working with Ben I also had the opportunity to assist with various miscellaneous offerings for The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Conde Nast Traveller, New York Times, Vanity Fair and Smythson diaries.
More recently I have been working towards my PhD on ‘The Folklore of Death & Dying in Nineteenth-century Rural England’ which I submitted in July 2025, which allowed me to dive deep into my passion for folklore and combine it with my interest in history and death studies.
I am happiest perched in the British Library reading rooms surrounded by a pile of obscure and fascinating books researching my next offering.
Freelance
As a freelance copy-editor and indexer I have worked across a wide range of non-fiction books for a variety of trade publishers. I have a special interest in current affairs, history, archaeology and sport.
I am a meticulous copy-editor, fastidious yet creative in my approach. I can mould the clunkiest text into engaging prose. I like nothing more than rearranging a sentence to ensure clarity, while preserving the author’s voice and style.
I love the challenge of compiling a good index, from the most basic, concise index which gets straight to the key points to a long exhaustive index complete with numerous cross-references.
I am always keen to work with new clients so do contact me if you have any projects you think might suit me.