Scottish Traveller and storyteller Jess Smith is heading out on the road again, this time to introduce readers to her latest book.
The Perthshire author and campaigner is eager to share stories from her new collection Button Bog.
It’s her seventh book – eighth if you count her role in 2023’s first ever dictionary of the Scottish Travellers’ Language.
And it comes after Jess was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to the Scottish Traveller community.
Button Bog has been a lifetime in the making, and it’s a love song to stories themselves.
Jess, who lives near Comrie with husband Davie, has gathered tales collected throughout her rich life.
She hopes they will encourage other people to learn more about where they come from and the people who made them.
“Scotland is a weave of cultures,” she said.
“Don’t take it for granted. Go out there and find who you are.”
Dunkeld book signing for Jess Smith readers
Button Bog is published by Perthshire-based Tippermuir Books.
Subtitled “Voices and treasures from a Travellers’ kist”, it brings together stories and characters gathered by Jess on her own quest to find out more about her origins.
There are poems and songs, Jess’s own recollections, entries from academics and legends such as Stanley Robertson.
And Jess is particularly proud of the four stories that were passed on by her late father Charles Riley.
“All I did was open my ears and listen to the voices,” she said.
Jess will be signing copies of the book at Dunkeld Community Archive next Wednesday February 12 at 2pm.
She also has events coming up at Waterstones stores in Perth, Dundee, Kirkcaldy and Oban.
Critical acclaim and triumphant campaign
Born into a travelling family, Jess spent her childhood touring around Perthshire and Fife in a converted Bedford bus.
It wasn’t until after the death of her father that she took up writing seriously.
He had written his own unpublished memoir. And Jess made a deathbed promise to him that she would tell the story of their culture on his behalf.
She has won critical acclaim for a series of books, including Jessie’s Journey and The Way of the Wanderer.
And she has visited schools, prisons and countless local halls as part of her efforts to celebrate the Scottish Travellers’ way of life.
The BEM also recognised Jess’s work to have the Tinkers’ Heart in Argyll recognised as a scheduled monument.
The collection of stones in the shape of a heart was where Travellers held weddings, baptisms and blessings for the dead.
She launched a Scottish Parliament petition in 2014 and campaigned successfully to have it recognised by Historic Environment Scotland.
Conversation