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).[1] In 2014 she led a campaign to save the Tinkers' Heart,[2] a Scottish Travellers' monument in Argyll, Scotland.
A well known storyteller and public speaker, Smith has raised awareness of Scottish Travellers at schools in Perth & Kinross, Lanarkshire, Edinburgh and Lothians, Leeds, the Highlands and Islands, Suffolk and London, and at libraries, prisons, universities, clubs and Church groups. She has spoken at Story Telling Festivals in Scotland, England, Australia and Ireland, and at Book Festivals throughout the UK in addition to leading writing, story telling and traditional singing workshops.[1]
Smith started writing seriously after the death of her father, Charles Riley. He had written unpublished memoirs and she had made a promise on his deathbed that she would tell the story of their culture.
Her first poem, Scotia's Bairn, was inspired by a memory of sitting in a bus in Kirkcaldy when another girl refused to take a seat next to her because she was a Traveller.
She provided the inspiration for 'The Language of the Scottish Traveller: A Dictionary' when she sent the author, Pauline Cairns Speitel, a copy of 'The Scottish Traveller Dialects', which she co wrote with Robert Dawson. [3] The hope was that the Dictionary would help break down some of the barriers which divide Travellers from the wider community.