Who?

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Iain S. Thomas is a technologist, creative artist and one of the world’s most popular poets with millions of readers across the globe. His prose and poetry appears on monuments and in university collections, has been quoted by everyone from Steven Spielberg to Arianna Huffington, and been read in front of the British Royal Family.

He’s worked with generative artificial intelligence creatively as a consultant for numerous startups and wrote what is widely considered to be the first major spiritual work created by an AI, What Makes Us Human? Amongst others, he’s won the Columbia University Breakthroughs in Storytelling Award as well as Grand Prix and gold awards from Cannes, The One Show, the Clios and every major creative festival. He’s spoken and lectured widely on the future of creativity and technology and has worked with some of the world’s biggest companies, agencies and institutions to bring their ideas to life.

He regularly travels the world to work, attend festivals and conferences but when he isn’t, he lives in New York with his family, two cats and a dog. 

Follow him on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. 

Press

An interview with master story teller, Stephen James, on Story Blender. 

“[Some readers] want you to be the South African version of someone who already exists, the South African Lee Child, the South African Margaret Atwood, the South African Jonathan Franzen. I made a decision a while back that I would rather be the world’s Iain Thomas.”

– Iain S. Thomas, Publishers Weekly

Harry Styles

“The poem is a way to look for peace and reassurance that even though our time here as humans is limited, that we are part of something so much more significant than ourselves.”

– Iain S. Thomas, Financial Mail 

“When there is need, they are there. Tom and Rita, a dynamic duo that in our world of superheroes, just know this — their superpower is to be human which brings to mind a quote from the poet Iain Thomas…”

– Steven Spielberg, The Hollywood Reporter

“The world will keep coming at you with its incessant demands, beeps, blinking lights, and alerts. “Every day,” Iain Thomas wrote, “the world will drag you by the hand, yelling, ‘This is important! And this is important! And this is important! You need to worry about this! And This! And This!’ And each day, it’s up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart and say, ‘No. This is what’s important.’” It’s from this sacred place that life is transformed from struggle to grace, from information to wisdom.”

-Arianna Huffington, Time Magazine 

“Rupi Kaur (whose “Milk and Honey” is No. 1), Neil Hilborn, (whose “Our Numbered Day” is No. 3), and Iain Thomas a.k.a. pleasefindthis (whose “I Wrote This For You” is No. 5) have all found their way from the virtual pages of Instagram to the kinds of book sales most poets can only deconstruct dreams about — thanks to follower counts that feel more like the province of pop stars.”

– The Boston Globe

“I was in New York in Central Park reading [“I Wrote This For You” by Iain S. Thomas] when I get a call. I don’t answer and then my team tells me that Ava is going to call me. I’m like “[Shoot], I missed Ava’s call.” I call her back and she’s like “I have this opportunity … would you be interested?” I’m like, “Yes. Where? When?” Then she tells me it’s for Jay-Z and Beyonce.”

– Trevante Rhodes, The Los Angeles Times 

“I fell in love with language before I fell in love with any specific poets. I recognized that there was a way to phrase words that made them more powerful. I loved movie taglines because they were a kind of poetry, they told this entire story in the space of a sentence or two. The whole of the movie Alien is summed up as “In space, no one can you hear you scream.” I know that doesn’t sound very poetic or perhaps it’s not a very poetic answer, but it was through being exposed to that kind of pop-culture that I discovered my love of language.” 

– Iain S. Thomas, Psychology Today 

41 thoughts on “Who?”

  3. Dear iain,

    Thanks for writing I wrote this for you. Random question- did you live in New York City nearly a decade ago?

    I feel almost like you wrote this book for me. Funny hey? I lived in the city for an internship and hung out in the lower east side.

    I met some beautiful poets at a thing at a theater. I bummed a smoke from this guy and then this poet kind of stole my heart. We were smoking cigarettes. Then, my life went on as life goes on. His must have, too.

    Yes it seems rather strange. I write to you Australia. I moved here via London after leaving NYC, which is never easy…

    I maybe kind of just dumped my fiancé. It was for the best. I am finally starting to feel better though. It’s been nearly a week since we broke up. 🙂

    Feel free to check out my FB page. I keep it very private because I am a school teacher. If you see my FB page and want to keep talking/writing, feel free to add me as a friend.

    I don’t like the twitters or tumblers- too much effort, you know? I told those poets I followed around one day in NYC that I keep my writing book as a notebook, because well I guess I am old fashioned. I think it was in 2004.

    Hope to hear from you, or if not, that you aren’t freaked out by this message. I imagine you get heaps of fan mail!

    🙂 Amy

  4. I wonder how you get in contact with him. The author of the book that caught my eye the other day. In a sense I found a new dream. To meet the author of this book. These beautifully written words.

  9. My daughter Madalynn turned me on to your poetry and books. She recited them to me way before I was able to actually read anything by you. You have inspired in us to share even more of our love for poetry and one another. Thank you.

  10. i have found salvation in your words, as i hope you have as well. you are not a poet. a poet is a trivial word, a poet is a person who makes things unknown, you do not do this, at least, not to me. you’ve been the lone harbinger of truth in a world of hedonism.

    you saved my life. please remember to save yourself.

    thank you.

  24. I went into our local bookstore the other day, not wanting or needing a book in particular. My boyfriend and I were waiting for our movie to start in the cinema across the way.
    There was a table of best sellers that we had stopped at and nothing was catching my eye until I saw “I Wrote This For You”. It looked like a journal. So I read the cover. And was starting to get chocked up. I turned to the Dedication page and by the end I was full out sobbing. I left the store with the book. I didn’t realize words from a stranger could have such an immense impact. Thank you.

  25. […] Iain Thomas, author of I Wrote This For You, shows us that as writers, we have the right to do what we please with language. I whole-heartedly agree. Thomas tells us that poetry belongs to the people who read it; and we can write and create about anything we want to because people have the power to name things; and it’s with our power to name things that things have power (“What’s in a name?”). […]

  26. I have read your 2 ‘I Wrote This for You’ books a few years back, when I was going through a rough time, and they really, and I mean really, changed my outlook on things. I began to cope by taking photos and writing poetry, and I still do. Everything about your books is beautiful, and inspiring, and it’s spoken from the soul. Thank you so much for making something so impactful.

  27. Im not sure if youll ever read this, and as an author this may or may not be what youd want to hear, but i guess this is my shout into the void. Similar to how most writers fill empty spaces with their words and throw them into the universe, hoping they get read, feeling a little less alone. I just finished writing my suicide letter before stumbling upon your book, How to be happy. To say that i felt a connection with you or that it saved me sounds cliche and maybe a bit pretentious. What I can say though is that it helped me realize within myself that i can hold on. And for that, i thank you.

  31. Hi, how can I buy the complete series of I wrote this for you book? I don’t want to have to buy separately… Thanks!

  34. Hi! I would love to get in contact with you. I loved I Wrote This For You, and I look up to you as an author. I am a new author and would love your feedback on my poetry book. Please let me know if you would be interested in helping me.

  35. A young woman, Bailey Degan, passed away. She turned 19 in March. My heart breaks for her mother and family. She graduated 2020 from Hutchison in Germantown, TN. Because of here I found your works. She was obviously ahead of her time as she used you to express herself as a graduating senior…

    “Remember, you are part of a beautiful story that did not start when you were born. As your body cuts through the air, think of only the things that made you smile, the people that made you love, the ideas that made you strong. Remember those things will never happen again, but they cannot unhappen.” – Iain Thomas

    I only met Bailey twice. Both times can only be explained by how God puts people in our path and we really don’t know the rest of the story…. until… which for me…. is today.

    Bailey definitely makes me smile, love and I am stronger and a better person and mom because of Bailey and the encounter of our lives crossing… which for now… the second time our paths crossed… is only known by me… it was a brief visit, but it forever touched my heart as a mother then and again, now…

    … and…. Because she shared your passage and I found it today, in the midst of tears, she made me smile again, and love harder and remember to be strong again… to find peace in the midst of the storm and on the other side… and be here full stop for those we love… for our short time on this earth.

    Your work is beautiful. I look forward to sharing it forward and watching the lives it touches, speaks to, and empowers.

  37. Mr. Thomas,

    I love your poetry! Thank you for inspiring me to write my own!

    I remember reading you started out with writing a blog – currently I’m thinking about starting my own blog for poetry and I had a question:
    While writing and post your original work (poetry) do you have to find a way to copyright it?

    – Cadye

  38. I saw the spine of I wrote this for you and only you in a thrift shop. I thought the cover was interesting so I bought it for a dollar. I fell in love with the entity. I found I wrote this for you 2007-2017 from thrift books and there was a goodwill price tag on it for $2.99. Why did someone give this away? Perhaps to chip away at their tax bill? I skimmed a few pages and I’m completely overwhelmed. I had to journal to ensure I will always remember how I felt. Now I’ll write alongside you Iain. Thank you for walking with us. Always, Karen

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