This programme gives direct funding to publishers to assist with translation costs via the Book Office in London.

This grant programme is designed to support translation of French books into other languages. It does not cover works in the public domain, scholastic books, practical manuals and handbooks, or periodicals. The grants cover the cost of translation per se, not costs incurred for production or promotion. The commission meets twice a year, in March and September. For those works which it selects, the commission proposes a subsidy ranging between 20% and 50% of the cost of translation.
The Ministry of Culture support and the Burgess programme are mutually exclusive.

Applications are filled out in French and submitted by French publishers who hold rights to the works.
The work in translation must appear with the following statement: "This work is published with support from the French Ministry of Culture/Centre national du livre." The translated work must be remitted to the Centre national du livre within thirtysix (36) months of the decision to grant the subsidy. The grant is paid upon receipt of a copy of the published translation and of an acknowledgement of payment signed by the translator.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Culturesfrance have launched a new grant program to help publishers offset the cost of acquiring the rights for books translated from the French. British publishers wishing to participate and seeking a grant through this program should fill in the application form. (Download here)

This is a bi-annual program. Applications forms should be sent to the attention of Laure de Vaugrigneuse at laure.de-vaugrigneuse@diplomatie.gouv.fr. In order to be processed, all information should be received by March 15, 2010.

Filled out application form (download here)
Budget (download here)

If you are selected to receive a grant you will need to provide as well:

A signed copy of the assignment rights contract.
A corrected balanced budget with the amount of the grant that has been decided upon mentioned in the income column. It must be a balanced budget. This document needs to be original dated and signed by the Director of your publishing house. (Download budget here)
The name of the director and the address of your publishing house to be mentioned on the contract signed with CulturesFrance.
A contract to be signed by the British Publishing house and CulturesFrance.

Literary translation is eligible for funding under the Arts Council's Grants for the Arts programme. On the whole, priority is given to translation of fiction and poetry; non-fiction titles are also eligible if they are exceptional in terms of literary and stylistic innovation.

The publisher should make the application on the standard Grants for the Arts application form, together with a written proposal, following the guidelines available on the Arts Council website. As well as explaining the rationale for selecting the text or texts for translation, the written proposal should outline plans for promotion and distribution.

The application should include a sample of the translation and the original text. The sample should be of publishable standard, to demonstrate artistic quality. The application should also include the contract between the publisher and the translator - usually based on the model recommended by the Translators' Association, with payment reflecting its recommended minimum rates.

Writers in Translation is English PEN's newest programme. Pen acts as a grant-giving body, awarding funds to support new books being published for the first time in English translation, and which have a clear link to the Pen charter. Writers in Translation grants are aimed to assist with promoting and marketing works they have contracted to publish in English translation. In association with the publisher, Writers in Translation devises a promotional strategy designed to increase public awareness of the title, and of translated literature in general.

Publishers are asked to submit a sample translation of the work to the programme coodinator, as well as supporting information about the work. This material is assessed by the programme's Steering Committee, which consists of prominent translators, publishers, writers and other industry professionals. The committee meets twice-yearly to discuss material, and will choose one title for the programme to support at each meeting.

The first port of call for all enquiries regarding translation grants given by the European Commission should be the Cultural Contact Point (CCP) in the UK: www.culturefund.eu

Contact: Geoffrey Brown or Tim Burch at EUCLID, 12 Charlotte Street, Manchester M14.
Tel: +44 (0)7000 382543
Email: info@euclid.info


Grants for literary translation projects

This covers translations of literary works from one European language into another European language and the translation of ancient texts from Europe's literary heritage of ancient times (including ancient languages, such as ancient Greek, Latin, etc.).

The translation must be carried out exclusively from and into a European language and always from the original language of the work.

The target language must be the mother tongue of the translator.

Applications that may be submitted by independent publishers or publishing houses belonging to publishing groups must include a minimum of four and a maximum of ten works eligible to be translated.

As a general rule, particular attention will be paid to works that have attracted the interest of readers and literary professionals and whose literary quality has been established and recognised

the EC will fund 100% of the translation costs, up to a maximum of 60,000 euros, providing these costs do not represent more than 50% of the total budget

Eligible works are those:

which have not been translated into the target language before.

which have been published.

which are by European authors

from the literary field or from ancient literary heritage (novel, story, short story, theatre, poetry, biography, collection, essay, anthology, etc.).