Esther Rutter studied English at Oxford University’s Magdalen College, where she held an academic scholarship. As an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews, she produces creative work in response to place, identity, culture, and community. She grew up in Suffolk, England, and since 2016 has lived in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland.
Esther’s first book, This Golden Fleece(Granta, 2019), explores the cultural history of wool and knitting in the British Isles. Her second, All Before Me (Granta, 2024), is a moving and absorbing account of the struggle to know oneself on the journey into adulthood, intertwined with the stories of the Wordsworth siblings at Dove Cottage. Esther’s essays and poems have been published by Granta Magazine, 404 Ink,Simple Things, and The Irish Times. Described by Kathryn Hughes in The Guardian as ‘[a] likable guide with a good eye for a story’, Esther’s non-fiction writing has also been featured in Vogue, Books from Scotland, The Herald, The National, East Anglian Daily Times, and Knitting Magazine.
Esther combines her creative practice with working with communities through artist commissions and residences. In March 2022 she was the inaugural Knitter in Residence for Penistone Arts Week, where she was commissioned to create knitted pieces for exhibition, deliver events, and design a pattern inspired by the history and culture of the North Pennines. In May 2022 Esther was one of five artists commissioned to produce new work as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival in response to the 2022 theme ‘Gather’. Her work was informed by her own experience of mental illness and by the textile heritage of Japan and Scotland.
