Sunday Submissions: The TA First Translation Prize and 2018 PEN/Heim Grants

Two opportunities, particularly for emerging translators:

The PEN/Heim Translation Fund was established in the summer of 2003, and — since that time — it has funded a total of 139 translations from over 35 languages, including three projects translated from Arabic.

The most recent Arabic winner was Elisabeth Jaquette’s proposal to translate a short-story collection by Sudanese writer Rania Mamoun, Thirteen Months of Sunrise. Rights to the collection are still available.

Submissions for the 2018 awards cycle will be accepted through September 15, 2017, and “should be translations-in-progress, as the grant aims to provide support for completion.” There are no restrictions on the nationality of the translator, but the project must be translated into English.

The complete guidelines are available at the PEN America website.

Meanwhile, the TA First Translation Prize is also open for submissions, with a deadline of September 15. This is is an annual £2,000 prize “for a debut literary translation into English published in the UK.” The prize was established this year, endowed by translator-author Daniel Hahn, with support from the British Council.

The First Translation Prize will be awarded in February 2018, for a translation that must have been first published in the UK between April 1 2016 and March 31 2017. Interestingly, the prize is to be shared between translator and editor. More details are available at the Society of Authors website.