ONE of the most lucrative film prizes in the UK, the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award, worth £50,000 has announced its short list.

Now in its third year, the bursary is presented to film talents at the beginning of their careers and is designed "to support a writer and/or director by providing them with the financial stability and time needed to develop their creativity."

The three short listed film talents include Richard Billingham, a visual artist and writer/director, the Scottish writer Nicole Taylor and the writer director Harry Wootliff.

Previous recipients include writer/director, Hope Dickson Leach, based in Edinburgh, and Daniel Kokotajlo.

Ben Roberts, director of the BFI Film Fund said: “The three shortlisted filmmakers are each poised to catch the wave of their current success - but feature development needs time and encouragement.

"We are so grateful to IWC for highlighting and supporting the work of emerging UK filmmakers - and also to the producers of our three candidates for getting them here”

Billingham is an established visual artist, and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2001.

Ms Taylor is a screen writer who most recently wrote Three Girls for BBC 1, as well as The C Word.

first film is Wild Rose, which was shot in Glasgow and stars Jessie Buckley.

Harry Wootliff has written for television, including Coming Up for Channel 4: Only You is to be her first feature and has received backing by Creative Scotland.

The bursary presentation will take place at the IWC Gala Dinner on 9 October in London.

www.iwc.com

THE organisers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival have announced two new events for the autumn.

Jeff Kinney, author of the globally bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, which has sold 200m copies, is coming to Edinburgh for a Scottish event on 17 November.

Sarah Perry, author of bestseller The Essex Serpent, will introduce her new book in Edinburgh on 6 November.

Kinney's event will take place at the Assembly Rooms, and will be part of his promotion for his new book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown.

Sarah Perry’s third novel, Melmoth, is inspired by Melmoth The Wanderer, the Victorian gothic horror novel by Charles Robert Maturin.

Perry’s Melmoth is published in October.

She will be appearing at The Pleasance Theatre on 6 November for her first Scottish appearance this year.

Her event will be followed by a book signing.

www.edbookfest.co.uk

A self-playing grand piano performing a classical work that has been beamed to the moon and back is part of a new installation in Scotland’s oldest concert hall.

The work by Katie Paterson is on display at St Cecilia's Hall, at the University of Edinburgh.

Paterson translated Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata into Morse code and sent it to the moon as a radio wave.

The work, Earth-Moon-Earth, is on display at the hall, played on an automated piano.

The Edinburgh College of Art alumna took her inspiration from amateur enthusiasts known as 'moonbouncers' who use Earth-Moon-Earth radio transmissions to bounce messages off the moon and decipher them when they return.

Kirsty MacNab, curator for the University of Edinburgh, said: “We are thrilled to host this captivating artwork by such a well-renowned artist and alumna.

"The installation is on show in collaboration with the Ingleby Gallery’s Jacob’s Ladder exhibition and our own Astronomy Victorious, which is on show in the University’s Main Library.

"The exhibits explore humankind’s enduring fascination with outer space."

Earth-Moon-Earth will be displayed at the University of Edinburgh’s St Cecilia’s Hall Concert Room and Music Museum until 27 October 2018.

The gallery is free.

www.ed.ac.uk