English PEN Presents x International Booker Prize

PEN Presents supports and showcases sample translations, funding the often-unpaid work of creating samples, giving UK publishers access to titles from underrepresented languages and regions, and helping diversify the translated literature landscape.

The PEN Presents x International Booker Prize project aims to address this, working to fund and promote the work of Global Majority translators so that more literature in translation, created by more people, reaches English-language readers. People from the Global Majority currently represent approximately 80% of the world’s population.

Funding Information

• A shortlist of 12 applicants will receive grants of £500 to create 5,000-word sample translations of their proposed works, with a final selection of six samples selected as PEN Presents winners, given editorial support from English PEN, and promoted to English PEN’s network of UK publishers.

Eligibility Criteria

• Translators from the Global Majority, where they take people of the Global Majority to refer to people who are racialised as Black, African, Asian, Brown or dual-heritage, Indigenous people, people indigenous to the Global South, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people, and/or people racialised as “ethnic minorities”. They can be:
  • From anywhere in the world.
  • At any stage of their career.
• Works being submitted must be:
  • works not yet published in English translation in any territory (where “published in English translation” is taken to mean legally and with the consent of the rightsholder translated and published in full in any form);
  • works where English translation rights – UK or World English – are available (works for which a countersigned contract exists between a publisher and translator for an English translation are not eligible);
  • works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories;
  • Works being submitted can be:
    • co-translations, providing that all translators would be eligible for the round as individuals (if a co-translation is shortlisted, the grant will be split equally between the co-translators, except where an offset split is requested and agreed in writing by all the co-translators);
    • works of any era;
    • works of any length;
    • works by writers from anywhere in the world;
    • works originally written in any language, including:
      • works that have not been published in the language in which they were originally written (provided that a copy of the original-language text of the unpublished work can be shared as part of the assessment process);
      • works containing multiple languages;
      • works to be translated from a bridge language.

Assessment Criteria

• PEN Presents proposals and samples are assessed against three criteria:
  • Literary quality (40% weighting) they want to support the translation of literature of outstanding merit.
  • Strength of the project (30% weighting) they want to support projects with the potential to be successfully published in the UK market and reach readers.
  • Contribution to bibliodiversity (30% weighting) they want to support the translation of books that give readers access to a more varied literary landscape, supporting a more diverse range of voices to create exceptional work.

Application Requirements

• This form asks proposals for:
  • A short synopsis of the book;
  • A very short translation over the opening lines of the book (max. 200 words);
  • The author’s biography;
  • Information about the successes of the original work (including sales figures, prizes, reviews, other translation rights deals);
  • Detail on why you think you are the right translator for the project;
  • Arguments for the work’s literary quality, fit for the UK market, and contribution to bibliodiversity.

For more information, visit English PEN.