Claire Scobie was born in Newbury, England, in 1972. After studying history at Cambridge, she worked for the Telegraph Magazine and in 1997 won the Catherine Pakenham Award for Best Young Woman Journalist of the Year.

She writes for numerous publications including the Daily Telegraph, the Observer Magazine and is a contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald, Marie Claire Australia and the Qantas inflight magazine, The Australian Way.

In 2007 her travel memoir Last Seen in Lhasa won the Dolman Best Travel Book Award. This chronicles her seven journeys to Tibet and friendship with a wandering Tibetan nun.

Claire has taught journalism at Macquarie University in Sydney and teaches writing workshops across Australia. She has been a judge in the Australian Society of Travel Writers Travel Journalism Awards and since 2008 has been a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers.

Claire has considerable experience in moderating at author’s events and chairing panels at literary festivals, including the Sydney Writer’s Festival and the Hong Kong International Literary Festival. She has also appeared at Wordstorm in Darwin, Ubud Writers' Festival in Bali, and at the Brisbane and Melbourne writers’ festivals.

Claire is currently studying at the Writing and Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney. She is working on two new books, a novel and a second travel memoir. She lives in Sydney with her husband Aden.