Jess Smith BEM (born 1948) is a Scottish writer and storyteller. Her work focuses on the experiences of Scottish travellers. As of 2018, she has published six books, including an autobiographical trilogy recalling her own childhood experiences, and a booklet on Traveller Dialects (with co-author Robert Dawson). In 2014 she led a campaign to save the Tinkers' Heart, a Scottish travellers' monument in Argyll, Scotland.

Biography

Smith was born in Aberfeldy in 1948. From a Scottish traveller family, she lived with her seven sisters and parents in a single decker blue Bedford bus from the ages of five to 15. Smith lives in

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

and is married with three adult children; 2 sons and a daughter. She is patron of the young travellers' rights organisation Article 12. In 2012, Article 12 won the Herald Society Equalities Project of the Year Award.

Tinkers' Heart campaign

In 2012

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

status for the Tinkers' Heart was proposed however the application was declined as Historic Scotland indicated that it did not meet the criteria for a monument of national importance. In 2014 Smith launched a campaign to have this decision overturned, and in June 2015 the Heart became a scheduled monument.

Bibliography

The Scottish Traveller Dialects
(with Robert Dawson) 2002
Jessie's Journey
2002
Tales from the Tent
2003
Tears for a Tinker
2005
Bruar's Rest
2006
Sookin' Berries
2008
Way of the Wanderers
2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jess (writer) Scottish Travellers Scottish writers British storytellers Women storytellers 1948 births Living people People from Perth and Kinross