Literary Production and Translation Grant Program (Denmark)

The purpose of the Danish Arts Foundation is, among other things, to further literature and access to literature in Danmark as well as further Danish literature abroad. With this programme, the Committee for Literary Project Funding wants to support the possibilities for relevant Danish works and authorships of high quality to reach the reading public abroad.

Funding Information

• DKK 15,000 in contribution towards the total costs of the publication of books and translations up to 100 pages.
• DKK 30,000 in contribution towards the total costs of the publication of books and translations up to 300 pages.
• DKK 50,000 in contribution towards the total costs of the publication of books and translations with more than 300 pages.
• DKK 100,000 in contribution towards the total costs of especially complex and expensive works.
• Other media:
  • Literary podcasts: DKK 15,000 – at least 90 minutes, DKK 30,000 – at least 180 minutes, DKK 50,000 – at least 300 minutes.

Eligible Activities

• You can apply for grants for:
  • Publication of literature in various formats translated from Danish. If you are applying for grants to cover both production and translation costs, you must apply in a single, combined application per work. You can only apply when you have acquired the rights to the work and signed a contract with the translator named in the application.

Ineligible Activities

• You cannot apply for grants for:
  • Individuals cannot apply for support for translation. The support must be applied for by the publishing publisher.
  • Translation of Danish titles to other Nordic languages. Nordic publishers may apply to the Fund for Nordic Translations/puljen Nordiske Oversættelser for funding to cover fees for translators who translate a work from Danish into another Nordic language.
  • Publication of works in which the literature belongs to the realm of research, education, regional and local history, handbooks, self-help and lifestyle books, dictionaries, catalogues, or similar literature.

Eligibility Criteria

• Publishing houses and other publishers of Danish literary works in translation, (organisations etc.) are eligible to apply.

Evaluation Criteria

• In order to apply for support, you must fulfil the following formal requirements:
  • The work must not have been published before the application deadline.
  • Publishers based in Denmark that apply must be able to render probable that the translation will reach its target group through partnerships or a professional distribution network.
• Applications that live up to the formal requirements are assessed based on the artistic quality of the project:
  • The literary quality of the publication. When assessing the literary quality, the committee examines artistic and looks for professional and linguistic ability.
  • The editorial quality of the publication and the publisher’s general professionalism; that is, a deliberate position on the interrelationship between form and content, as well as the quality of the editing, design, production and marketing.
  • In the case of general cultural literature and non-fiction, the committee will also assess whether the work is written so that it communicates broadly and thus may be considered to have a general cultural purpose.
  • The qualifications of the translator; that is, that the translator has experience with translating literature of high quality and can document this.
  • Whether the translator translates into his or her mother tongue and when the translation is directly from Danish.
  • The applicant considers the publication’s relevance, current interest and necessity, how the project contributes to strengthening Danish literature abroad and, possibly, how the project is presented to potential readers.
  • The work’s current interest. As a rule, the committee gives priority to works by living authors rather than deceased ones unless an authorship has new life and current interest.

For more information, visit Danish Arts Foundation.