Scottish writers Carol Ann Duffy and Ali Smith both feature in the list.

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy said she was "delighted" to be made a Dame in the Honours list.

The Glasgow-born writer, who was appointed to the prestigious post in 2009, has written verse on subjects as diverse as the MPs' expenses scandal, the deaths of the last surviving British soldiers of the First World War and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

She said: "I am delighted that the long tradition of the Laureateship and poetry in general are part of these celebrations. We have many wonderful poets in this country and it is a privilege to represent them."

Duffy, who grew up in Stafford where her father was a long-serving councillor and union representative, went to university in Liverpool where she was influenced by some of the city's famous literary figures including fellow poet Adrian Henri.

Her verse has picked up prizes including the Forward Prize and the TS Eliot Prize and she lectured at Manchester Metropolitan University.

The announcement of Ali Smith's CBE marks the end of a good year for the Scottish writer which has seen her shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and take home the £10,000 Goldsmiths Prize.

The 52-year-old was born in Inverness and worked as a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde before becoming a full-time writer.

Smith, who lives in Cambridge, is a favourite with the critics and is regularly in the running for the country's most prestigious literary prizes.

Hotel World, her second novel, was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize and the Orange Prize. The Accidental saw her shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize for the second time in 2005 and How To Be Both was shortlisted this year.

That last novel, which was written in two parts, centres around a woman in the 21st century grappling with grief and a renaissance-era painter.