\New Swedish Books, spring 2019 1
47 Spring 2019 Translation grants for Swedish lit
erature and drama If you would like to publish a Swedish book or perform a Swedish theatre play you can apply for a translation grant. Facts In 2018 we supported 271 translations into 41 languages with SEK 4.8 million. This includes 38 books in Nordic languages, of which 21 were supported with money from the Nordic Council of Ministers. The genre that received the most support was contemporary novels (78), followed by fiction for children aged 6–9 (53), picture books (36), and narrative nonfiction (31). The average sum granted was SEK 15 900 per application. In terms of target language, Danish, Spanish, Russian, Italian and English are the most common, followed by Polish, Czech, German, French, Ukrainian and Dutch. The translation grant covers part of the translation costs for Swedish fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s books, narrative non-fiction or comics/graphic novels. You can also apply for the costs of licensed stage performances of full-length Swedish plays. The sum you can apply for must correspond to the translator’s fee as agreed in the translation contract. You can also apply for a maximum of SEK 10 000 for the production costs of illustrated books, but only for fully illustrated four-colour picture books, non-fiction, comics and graphic novels. Partially illustrated books, or books with black-and-white illustrations (with some exceptions, in the case of comics) are not eligible for production support. The grant cannot cover copyright costs. Irrespective of genre, the work must be of high quality in both text and illustration. The grant is intended to support the translation of contemporary works, but classics are also considered. Priority will be given to the works of contemporary Swedish authors into languages in which they are not yet represented. Handbooks, popular psychology, selfhelp, gardening, cookbooks, travel guides and academia are not covered by this grant. Crime novels and other sorts of genre fiction are not generally supported, though exceptions can be made in special cases if the work is considered a renewal of the genre. The deadlines for application in 2019 for translation grants (for both Nordic and nonNordic publishers) are: 5 February, 7 May, 1 October. Application forms are available on the Swedish Literature Exchange homepage: www.swedishliterature.se.