UK Publishers: It’s Time to Submit to ‘PEN Promotes!’

Each year, a PEN committee chooses between 8 to 10 books translated into English by UK publishers to receive grants to help promote, market and champion these titles. It’s time to apply for PEN Promotes! 2014:

Previous “PEN Promotes!”-supported books include: Elias Khoury’s Gate of the Sun and Yalo, Hassan Blasim’s Madman of Freedom Square and The Iraqi Christ, the Beirut39 collection, Samar Yazbek’s Woman in the Crossfire, Mourid Barghouti’s I Was Born There, I Was Born Here, and Nihad Sirees’s The Silence and the Roar.

I imagine that applications for Elias Khoury’s Sinalcol and the Hassan Blasim-inspired Iraq + 100 collection are underway. But there is still space for your project, too. Earlier this year, PEN Translation Program Manager Emma Cleave answered a few questions about how the organization chooses which titles to support. Also note that these titles should:

• Explore a freedom of expression or human rights issue
• Contribute in some way towards inter-cultural understanding through illuminating an aspect of another country or culture

However, these bullet points can be understood loosely.

The deadline:

September 20, 2013

More details:

On PEN’s site

The application form:

PEN PROMOTES application form – 2013- 2014