£30000 for Wooden Baby

Dundee University Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow, Jonathon Falla, has been awarded the Scottish Art Council's top prize for future work for his depiction of life in 16th century Europe and the impact of war and disease on the lives of children.

Provisionally titled "Wooden Baby", Mr Falla's novel will be written from the perspective of the French essayist Michel de Montaigne, depicting the influence and impression the issues of the day played on the essayist's family.

The Creative Scotland Award of £30,000 will help to fund Mr Falla's research and travels to enable him to create the work. The writer was one of 10 people named in the Creative Scotland Awards last week.

The prize is open to established artists of any medium. This year's winners included writers, film-makers, musicians and playwrights. The aim is to help established artists develop projects they may not otherwise have been able to pursue.

Mr Falla said, "Writing a complex historical novel is a very time-consuming and often expensive process, requiring travel and probably two years' work. It is not something one can readily do without support."

Jonathon Falla is a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Dundee and the author of acclaimed works including Blue Poppies and Poor Mercy and the award-winning feature film The Hummingbird Tree.

Mr Falla works with the University's Academic Skills Team in the Learning Centre on their Just Write programme, helping postgraduate and undergraduate students develop their academic writing skills.

"Working with students has benefits both ways. I try to teach the virtues of clear, simple prose; this reminds me to practice what I preach," Mr Falla said.