PEN America has called for applications for its 2019 PEN/HEIM Translation Fund Grants which promotes the publication and reception of translated international literature in English. Between $2,000–$4,000 will be made available for each successful proposed project.
The PEN/Heim Translation Fund was established in the summer of 2003 by an endowed gift of $730,000 from Priscilla and Michael Henry Heim, in response to the number of literary translations currently appearing in English which was considered dismayingly low.
PEN America will begin accepting submission of applicantions for the 2019 awards from June 1, 2018 to July 20, 2018 and all 2019 applicants will receive notification regarding the status of their application before February 2019.
The PEN/Heim Translation Fund provides grants to support the translation of book-length works of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, or drama that have not previously appeared in English in print or have appeared only in an outdated or otherwise flawed translation. The Fund seeks to encourage translators to undertake projects they might not otherwise have had the means to attempt.
Eligible works for this grant must be translations-in-progress, as the grant aims to provide support for completion. There are no restrictions on the nationality or citizenship of the translator but the works must be translated into English. Anthologies with multiple translators, works of literary criticism, and scholarly or technical texts do not qualify. Translators who have previously been awarded grants by the Fund are ineligible to reapply for three years after the year in which they receive a grant. Projects that have been previously submitted and have not received a grant are unlikely to be reconsidered in a subsequent year. Projects proposed may have up to two translators but translators may only submit one project per year.
To apply for the PEN/HEIM Translation Fund Grants for 2019, please click here.
Translators must complete the application form below by midnight EST July 20, 2018. The application will require the following materials:
- A completed application form should be accompanied with the following documents:
- A one to two-page, single-spaced statement outlining the work and describing its importance.
- A biography and bibliography of the author, including information on translations of his or her work into other languages.
- A CV of the translator, no longer than three pages.
- If the book is not in the public domain and the project is not yet under contract, please include a photocopy of the copyright noticeon the original (the copyright notice is a line including the character ©, a date, and the name of the copyright holder, which appears as part of the front matter in every book), and a letter from the copyright holder stating that English-language rights to the book are available. A letter or copy of an email from the copyright holder is sufficient.
- If the translation is currently under contract with a publisher, please submit a copy of the contract.
- A 10-12 page single –spaced sample of the translation.
- The same passage in the original language (and, if the work has been previously translated, the same passage in the earlier version).
