Funding Opportunities for Writing and Publishing Translation

If you work in translation, check out this list of grants and fellowships with approaching deadlines.

These funding opportunities offer financial support for translation projects in all languages and a number of different genres. There are also specific resources for translation into English from German, Icelandic, Hindi, Tamil, and more! Whether you’re a literary translator, academic translator, or a publisher of translations, we hope you find this list helpful.

The Camargo Foundation – The Camargo Fellowship

• Description: “Since 1971, the Camargo Foundation has awarded residencies to nearly one thousand individuals as part of its mission to support groundbreaking research, experimentation, and interdisciplinary approaches in the Arts and Humanities.”

• Restrictions: Applicants may apply under the categories of “Scholars,” “Thinkers,” or “Artists.” Academic translators, literary translators, and teams of up to three individuals are welcome.

• Deadline: Friday, October 1, 2022, by 5:59pm ET

• Award: Accommodations in Cassis, France to focus on their work for six to eleven weeks, basic transportation to and from Cassis, and a stipend of €250 ($250) per week

English PEN – PEN Translates

• Description: “Helps UK publishers to meet the costs of translating new works into English—whilst ensuring translators are acknowledged and paid properly for their work.”

• Restrictions: Submissions must come from UK-based publishers. The submitted project may be a work of fiction (including children’s literature), nonfiction, poetry, prose, or plays in any language.

• Deadline: Applications will open on October 1, 2022 and close in November

• Award: Funds up to 75% of translation costs for selected projects. When a publisher’s annual turnover is less than £500,000 ($586,877) PEN will consider supporting up to 100% of translation costs.

Foundation Jan Michalski – Residencies for Writers

• Description: “Designed to provide an environment for creative writing and to support those involved in the written word.”

• Restrictions: All types of writers engaged in literary creation, including translators. Both individual projects and projects in pairs are eligible.

• Deadline: September, 14 2022

• Award: Accommodation in one of six ‘treehouses’ that overlook Lake Geneva, the Alps, and the Jura forest, travel costs to and from the residency, breakfast and lunch, and a monthly allowance of CHF 1,200 ($1,324) is provided.

The Goethe-Institut – Translation Funding Programme

• Description: “Seeks to give international readers access to contemporary German-language fiction, non-fiction, and books for children and young adults.”

• Restrictions: Foreign publishers translating German-language books, particularly current fiction, comics, books for children and young adults, and nonfiction books on current social issues

• Deadline: September 15, 2022

• Award: Reimburses the publisher for part of the translation fees after the publication of the translation. The grant amount is based on the fees paid to the translator(s).

Icelandic Literature Center – Translation Grants from Icelandic

• Description: Aims to “promote Icelandic literature abroad.”

• Restrictions: Foreign publishers wishing to publish a work translated from Icelandic, including prose, poetry, drama, essays, biographies, comic books, and children’s books

• Deadline: September 15, 2022

• Award: Usually, this grant will cover only a proportion of the base translation fee, but applicants may apply for the maximum of the translation fee agreed with the translator

National Endowment for the Arts – Translation Projects Grant

• Description: “Supports projects for the translation of specific works of prose, poetry, or drama from other languages into English.”

• Restrictions: Awarded to translators that have published (alone or in collaboration) at least twenty pages of translations of creative literature into English, or translated a full-length play into English that was published, presented, or produced by a professional theater company between January 1, 2008, and January 12, 2023. Find more specific guidelines here.

• Deadline: January 12, 2023 (It is recommended to submit an application by January 2, 2023)

• Award: Grants range from $10,000 to $25,000

National Endowment for the Humanities – The Scholarly Editions and Scholarly Translations Program

• Description: “Provides grants to organizations to support collaborative teams who are editing, annotating, and translating foundational humanities texts that are vital to scholarship but are currently inaccessible or only available in inadequate editions or translations.”

• Restrictions: Supports organizations with translation projects for one to three years that involve the collaboration of at least two scholars.

• Deadline: November 30, 2022 (optional draft due September 23, 2022)

• Award: Maximum award amount is $300,000 in outright funds, but up to $450,000 may be available if requesting at least $150,000 in matching funds

The New India Foundation – Translation Fellowships

• Description: “Dedicated to bringing non-fiction works from Indian languages to English.”

• Restrictions: Awarded to translators working in ten languages (Assamese, Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Odia, Tamil, and Urdu) for the research and translation of non-fiction texts published from 1850 onward.

• Deadline: December 31, 2022

• Award: Each fellow is given ₹600,000 ($7,503)