The brainchild of bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith, historian Alistair Moffat and artist Andrew Crummy, the Great Tapestry of Scotland is an outstanding celebration of thousands of years of Scottish history and achievement, from the end of the last Ice Age to Dolly the Sheep and Andy Murray’s Wimbledon victory in 2013.
This book tells the story of this unique undertaking from its original conception and creation by teams of dedicated stitchers to its grand unveiling at the Scottish Parliament in 2013, its subsequent touring and the creation of its permanent home in the Scottish Borders.
Alistair Moffat was born and bred in the Scottish Borders. A former Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Director of Programmes at Scottish Television and founder of the Borders Book Festival, he is also the author of a number of highly acclaimed books. From 2011 he was Rector of the University of St Andrews. He has written more than thirty books on Scottish history, and lives in the Scottish Borders.
Susan Mansfield is a journalist and writer. She spent twelve years as an Arts and features writer for The Scotsman and continues as an art critic for the paper. Since becoming freelance, she has worked across journalism, editing, copywriting and PR. In 2018 she was the joint of the Jack Clemo National Poetry Award.
Andrew Crummy began his professional career in London, where he contributed to a wide range of publications, including NME, The Observer and Timeout. A series of large-scale murals for Midland Bank developed into an interest for artworks in public and community settings, and he has been involved with many such projects around the world. He continues with this work as well as undertaking book illustration, and painting skyscapes and portraits.