A month long writing residency in France, run in honour of Robert Louis Stevenson, has been awarded to four young Scottish writers.

The Scottish Book Trust's awards have gone to writer Lynsey May, writer, director and translator Alan McKendrick, poet and playwright Michael Pedersen and author Malachy Tallack.

The Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowships were established in 1994 by Franki Fewkes, a Stevenson enthusiast, and are currently supported by Creative Scotland.

It provides residencies for four writers at the Hôtel Chevillon International Arts Centre at Grez-sur-Loing in central France.

Travel and accommodation are paid for, and there is a grant of £300 per week to cover living expenses.

Grez-sur-Loing is at the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau, and was chosen because of its connections with Robert Louis Stevenson who first visited in 1875.

It was there, at the Hôtel Chevillon, that he met his future wife Fanny Osbourne.

May will attend the residency in June and will work on a new novel set in Leith.

Glasgow-based debut author Tallack will attend the residency in November.

Malachy, from Shetland, has written for a number of publications including the Scottish Review of Books and his first book, Sixty Degrees North, will be published by Polygon in 2015.

He is also a singer-songwriter, with four albums and an EP.

During the residency Tallack will be working on his debut novel, which is set in Shetland.

He said: "It means a great deal to have the support of Scottish Book Trust, and the chance to spend a month working solely on this project wilRobert Louis Stevenson Fellowships l be a huge boost towards completing the novel."

Edinburgh-based Pedersen will attend the residency in November.

During the residency he will work towards a second collection of poetry and on writing a feature film script - a collaboration with Scottish director Robert McKillop.

Glasgow-based McKendrick will work on a new, original stage play informed by "the thematic and structural conventions of Jacobean City Comedy - applying those conventions to a contemporary plot and setting."