Writer and Research Fellow

Esther Rutter is a non-fiction author and researcher based in Scotland. Before becoming a freelance writer, she worked at the Wordsworth Trust, the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, and UNESCO City of Literature Trust in Edinburgh. After being a Writer-in-Residence (2017-2020) and an Honorary Research Fellow (2021-2024) at the University of St Andrews, she is now a AHRC-funded PhD student at the University of Leeds (2025-2029).

Esther’s first book, This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain’s Knitted History (Granta, 2019), traces the social and cultural history of the art of knitting. It won a Society of Authors' Roger Deakin Award and a five-figure research grant from Creative Scotland. Her second book, All Before Me: A Search for Belonging in Wordsworth’s Lake District (Granta, 2024), explores the importance of creativity and community in the context of Romanticism. It was runner-up in the Lakeland Book of the Year’s Literature and Poetry category (2026), and was the subject of the BBC World Service’s Outlook programme.

Esther appears regularly on national radio, including BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and All In The Mind, and Radio 3 Free Thinking programmes. She also writes for publications including Vogue, Granta Magazine, Countryfile, and The Irish Times. She is a popular speaker who has appeared at festivals across Britain, including Edinburgh International Book Festival, Cambridge Literary Festival, and York Festival of Ideas.

Esther also works as a scriptwriter, most recently with acclaimed filmmaker Alex Ingle. You can see some examples of their work here: Atlas Film.