An award-winning writer in Scots and English – who names Robert Burns as one of his biggest influences - is to be the next BBC Scotland poet in residence.

Stuart A Paterson was brought up in Kilmarnock, and now lives on the Solway coast in Kirkcudbrightshire. He follows in the wake of Rachel McCrum, BBC Scotland’s first poet in residence in 2015. She has since relocated to Montreal. His residency will start on National Poetry Day, 28 September.

He said: “I've always been inspired by the way Burns used accessible poetry to reflect matters both universal and local … I hope to challenge perceptions of poetry being aloof and for the few, and to offer up work which people throughout our diverse country can relate to and enjoy.”

His pamphlet collection Border Lines won a Saboteur award last year, and a full collection, Looking South, is due soon from Indigo Dreams.