ROBIN Robertson has become the first Scot to win the coveted Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

The poet-turned-novelist from Perthshire collected the £25,000 first prize inside a packed marquee at the Borders Book Festival on Saturday afternoon.

His novel, The Long Take, recounts the inner journey of Canadian veteran Joe Walker as he travels from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco attempting to rebuild his life after living through the horrors of war in Europe.

Accepting the Walter Scott Prize from acclaimed novelist Alexander McCall Smith, the 64-year-old said: “I feel entirely fraudulent being up here collecting this prize, but I also feel extremely honoured not just to win but to be included alongside such wonderful writers on the shortlist.

“The Walter Scott Prize is Scotland’s premier literature award, named after Scotland’s greatest ever writer.”

The judging panel for the 2019 Prize comprised Elizabeth Buccleuch, James Naughtie, Kirsty Wark, Katharine Grant, Elizabeth Laird and James Holloway, with chair Alistair Moffat.

The Walter Scott Prize was founded in 2009 by Mr Moffatt and the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch to reward the best fiction set 60 or more years ago, and is open to novels published in the previous year in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth.

It's initial aim was also to honour and highlight the achievements of Sir Walter Scott, considered to be the inventor of the historical novel.

The Duke of Buccleuch told the prize-giving ceremony: “When we started this prize, it was an attempt to raise the profile of Sir Walter Scott.

“Scott transformed not just writing of the novel, but also the world around him.

“While celebrated around the world, for some reason ten years ago he was being overlooked at home.”

Award-winning actor Jack Lowden read extracts from all six short-listed novels - A Long Way From Home by Peter Carey, After The Party by Cressida Connolly, The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey, Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller, Warlight by Michael Ondaatje, and Robin Robertson’s The Long Take.

Jack told us: “Anything in the world I live in – film and television – comes down to writing.

“If something isn’t well written it’s, frankly, rubbish.

“The writing that I was lucky enough to read out today was exceptionally good.”

Previous winners of the Walter Scott Prize include Hilary Mantel, Sebastian Barry, Tan Twan Eng, Simon Mawer, John Spurling, Benjamin Myers and the late Andrea Levy.