This paper explores literacy and communicative practices among English Gypsies and Irish Travellers in the south of England. It suggests that despite few opportunities for formal schooling in the past, members are actively involved in debates and decisions affecting their future. It suggests that the theoretical concepts of New Literacy Studies, multimodality and the discourses of power assist understanding of Gypsy and Travellers' agency and engagement with the discourses of bureaucracy. It outlines the historical origins of Gypsies and Travellers, describes their main cultural characteristics and the sometimes extreme tension they have experienced with the settled community. The experience of Gypsies and Travellers in the UK has relevance for marginalised and travelling peoples in other parts of the world. (Contains 21 notes.)