The acclaimed writer Jackie Kay is the new National Poet for Scotland.

Ms Kay, who lives in Manchester, who was awarded an MBE for her services to literature in 2006, will succeed Liz Lochhead as the National Poet.

Ms Kay said she spend around half her time in Glasgow, the city where her parents live.

The final selection of Ms Kay was made by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and former first ministers Alex Salmond, Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale and Henry McLeish.

The First Minister made the announcement at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh where Ms Kay read one of her own poems, ‘Between the Dee and the Don’.

Ms Kay was born in Edinburgh and raised in Glasgow.

She said she would like to write a poem for the re-opening of the Scottish Parliament later this year, after the Holyrood elections, as well as highlight the plight of refugees.

The announcement was made by Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, who said: "Poetry is part of Scotland’s culture and history, it celebrates our language and can evoke strong emotions and memories in all of us.

"The role of the Makar is to celebrate our poetic past, promote the poetry of today and produce new pieces of work that relate to significant events in our nation.

"Jackie Kay’s poems sometimes deal with challenging subjects, taken from her own life experiences, and she has a particular Scottish brand of gallus humour."

"She is hugely respected, is known for her poignant and honest words, and is a role model for many, and I am delighted to name her as the new National Poet for Scotland.”

Ms Kay, who is an award winning author and has been recently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, said: "It's a tremendous honour to be chosen as Scotland's new Makar - following in the footsteps of such wonderful poets as Edwin Morgan and Liz Lochhead.

"As Robert Burns demonstrated, poetry holds up a unique mirror to a nation's heart, mind and soul.

"It is the pure language that tells us who we are. I hope to open up the conversations, the blethers, the arguments and celebrations that Scotland has with itself and with the rest of the world, using the voice of Poetry in its fine Scottish delivery."

Carol Ann Duffy, the UK Poet Laureate, said: "This is fabulous news for Scotland and for poetry.

"Jackie Kay is loved throughout the UK for the warmth and generosity of her work and she will prove an inspired choice as Makar."

Liz Lochhead said: "All over the UK and much further afield, Jackie is such a well loved and widely celebrated writer - of fiction and memoir and theatre as well as of pure and direct poetry which touches the heart - that she is bound to be a very, vbery popular choice indeed."

Dr Robyn Marsack, Director of the Scottish Poetry Library, chaired the advisory panel. She added: "The Scottish Poetry Library is delighted to be Jackie Kay’s virtual home and real support for the next five years.

"We know that she has a hugely enthusiastic readership in this country and beyond its borders; her poems are characterised by their warmth and empathy, sometimes fierce and sometimes funny. She will certainly be a great ambassador for poetry.”

Jackie Kay was made MBE for services to literature in 2006, and is currently Chancellor of Salford University.

Her poetry collections include Darling: New and Selected Poems (2007), and Fiere (2011), which reflects on her Nigerian and Scottish heritage.

Her memoir Red Dust Road (2010), which she has called a ‘love letter’ to her white adoptive parents, won the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book of the Year Award in 2011.

Her latest collection, featuring poems from her residency at the Ardtornish Estate, is The Empathetic Store (Mariscat, 2015).

The Makar is appointed by the Scottish Government in an unregulated appointment.

The term is for 5 years and an annual stipend of £10,000 per annum administered by Creative Scotland.