PEN Recommends What are we missing? What important books written in other languages are not available in English?   GRANTS & AWARDS NOW AVAILABLE Not signed up yet? Subscribe to the 2006 Grants & Awards database and gain access to more than 1,000 listings of grants, awards, and residencies available to American writers.   Home > Translation > Grants | | Translation Fund Grants The PEN Translation Fund was established in the summer of 2003 by a gift of $734,000 from an anonymous donor, made in response to the dismayingly low number of literary translations currently appearing in English. Its purpose is to promote the publication and reception of translated world literature in English. Over the four years of its existence, the Translation Fund has received more than 500 applications from translators (averaging about 130 each year), which are evaluated by the Fund’s Advisory Board. The Fund has given grants in varying amounts to a total of 42 translations into English from 23 languages, including Hindi, Finland-Swedish, Basque, Estonian, Farsi, and Lithuanian, as well as French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. Grants go directly to the translators, whether or not they have publishing contracts, and for many translators recognition by the Fund has led to a publishing contract. In addition to being excerpted in magazines including the New Yorker, Granta, The Paris Review, Words Without Borders, The Literary Review, Mandorla, and many others, and being highly praised in numerous book reviews, books initially supported by the PEN Translation Fund have gone on to receive the following awards: •    Finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry: Karen Emmerich for her translation of Miltos Sachtouris’ Poems (1945-1971) from the Greek (Archipelago Books, 2007). •    Winner of the 2006 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize from the Goethe-Institut Chicago: Susan Bernofsky for her translation of Jenny Erpenbeck’s The Old Child and Other Stories from the German (New Directions, 2005) •    Support from the Lannan Foundation’s Translation Selections Series: Idra Novey’s translation of Brazilian poet Pablo Henriques Britto’s The Clean Shirt of It: Selected Poems (BOA Editions, 2007). •    Short-listed for Canada’s highly prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize in 2006: Liz Winslow’s translation of Iraqi poet Dunya Mikhail’s The War Works Hard (New Directions, 2005) •    Named one of the 25 Books to Remember of 2005 by the New York Public Library: Liz Winslow’s translation of Dunya Mikhail’s The War Works Hard (New Directions, 2005) Who Is Eligible The PEN Translation Fund provides grants to translators to support the translation of book-length works of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or drama that have not previously appeared in English or have appeared only in an egregiously flawed translation. The Fund seeks to encourage translators to undertake projects they might not otherwise have had the means to attempt. Anthologies with multiple translators, works of literary criticism, and scholarly or technical texts do not qualify. Projects denied funding in previous years cannot be resubmitted. As of 2008, translators awarded grants by the Fund are ineligible to reapply for three years after the year they receive a grant. If they have not completed the project for which they received the initial grant, they are ineligible to reapply until the first project is completed. The PEN Translation Fund is very pleased to announce that candidates who submit poetry translation projects to the PEN Translation Fund may now also be considered for the National Poetry Series' Robert Fagles Translation Prize for the translation of a book of contemporary poetry written by a living poet. The winner of the Fagles Prize will receive a $2,000 cash award and publication. The translated poet will receive a $500 honorarium. How to Submit Click here to download an application. Deadline: January 14, 2008 For more information: contact Esther Allen or Nick Burd Past Translation Fund Grant Recipients: Rachel Tzvia Back, Andrea Berger, Johannes Goransson, Ann L. Huss, Elizabeth Macklin, Idra Novey, Constantine Rusanov, Gerald Turner, Paul Vincent, Alan Trei and Inna Feldbach. >> Click here for the complete list Home | Site Map | Copyright / Privacy Policy | Contact Us © 2004-2008 PEN American Center. All rights reserved.