The leading writer and painter Alasdair Gray has revealed he is on the mend from serious injuries that he suffered in a fall outside his home.

The Lanark author suffered a broken back and other injuries during the incident in which he tumbled into a basement at the property in the West End of Glasgow in June this year.

Speaking for the first time since the incident, the 80-year-old, who is still receiving treatment in hospital, said he is "recovering well."

Gray, who has also painted famous murals, added that he had to undergo a tracheostomy as part of his treatment.

He said his left arm and leg are still weak and he is unable to walk.

"It may take a few months to recover my strength," he said. "Otherwise not too bad."

Those close to the writer and artist believed in the aftermath of the incident that he would be "incapacitated for some time".

Gray, who appears to be able to write, did not outline how the accident had occurred.

Before his fall, Gray was having a busy year.

There was a major retrospective of his art at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and he was working on a new large religious commission for Glasgow Museums.

In August this year his most famous novel, Lanark, considered to be one of the finest and most influential books of the last century in Scotland, was adapted for the stage for the Citizen's Theatre and the Edinburgh International Festival.

The acclaimed production was written for the stage by David Greig and directed by Graham Eatough.

He also had a show marking sixty years of his print making at the Hidden Lane Gallery in Glasgow.

Gray was found by his neighbour, who heard the sounds of his moans outside his basement bedroom window in the early hours of the morning and went outside to investigate.

Paramedics and the fire brigade were involved in Gray's rescue.

Gray's wife, Morag McAlpine, passed away last year.

The neighbour who first discovered Gray after the fall, Marc de Ridder, said after the incident: "I discovered someone lying in the basement area, eight feet down from the pavement, obviously in a very bad condition.

"I immediately called 999 and the ambulance arrived, to their credit, before I finished the conversation."

Mr de Ridder's partner Lyn said at the time that he was "the hero of this near tragedy who rescued Alasdair from hypothermia and near worse."

The artist's injuries prevented him from appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this year, where he was due to talk about Lanark, the book he began writing in 1954 and completed in 1976.

Within days of his accident, friends suggested he was in remarkable condition considering the severity of his fall and his injuries.

He was reported to be disappointed to not be able to work and have to cancel meetings.

Gray adds work to the public sphere via a blog and his last entry was on May 21, a version of Dante's Divine Comedy.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow's hospitals said they could not comment on

Gray's health.