David Purves was born in 1924 and educated at Galashiels Academy and Edinburgh University. An environmental biochemist by profession, he is also a playwright, poet and editor. His work in Scots has been widely published in journals. He was Editor of Lallans magazine from 1987 to 1995; he wrote A Scots Grammar (Saltire Society,1997; revised 2002), and was Preses of the Scots Language Society.

Three plays, The Puddok an the Princess, The Knicht o the Riddils and Whuppitie Stourie, have been professionally produced. The Puddok an the Princess won a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1985 and ran to eight professional productions. His poetry collections include Thrawart Threipins (Aquila, 1976) and Herts Bluid (Chapman, 1995). He has also written adaptations in Scots of 150 ancient Chinese poems, haiku, and traditional fairy tales in Scots.