National Endowment for the Arts Translation Projects

Up to two years

Support for a project may begin any time between January 1, 2025, and January 1, 2026, and extend for up to two years.

Grant amounts range from $10,000 to $25,000. Award amounts are determined by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Individual translators who meet the publication requirements listed below are eligible to apply. Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States. See How to Apply for the documentation that is required to demonstrate eligibility. Ineligible applications will be rejected without panel review.

An individual may submit only one application for FY 2025 Literature Fellowships funding. You may not apply for both a Translation Project at this deadline (January 18, 2024) and a Literature Fellowship in Poetry at the 2024 deadline. See Literature Fellowships for more information.

You may not apply:

• If you have received three or more fellowships (in poetry, prose, or for translation) from the NEA.
• If you have received any NEA Creative Writing Literature Fellowship (in prose or poetry) on or after January 1, 2019 or any NEA Translation Fellowship on or after January 1, 2021.
• With the same project for more than three consecutive years.

Previous grantees must have submitted acceptable Final Report packages by the due date(s) for all NEA award(s) previously received.

You are eligible to apply if you, alone or in collaboration, have:

• Published a total of at least 20 pages of translations of creative literature into English in curated digital or print formats such as literary magazines, anthologies, or books; or
• Published a translation into English of a novel or a volume of at least 20 pages of fiction, poetry, drama, or belles-lettres (creative nonfiction, criticism, and essays); or
• Had published, presented, or produced by a professional theater company at least one full-length play that you translated into English.

This publication or production must have taken place between January 1, 2009, and January 18, 2024. To qualify, work must have been originally published with an eligible publisher between these dates, not just reprinted or reissued in another format during this period. Eligible publishers have a competitive selection process and offer some service or services to their writers, such as editing and proofreading; formatting and design; and/or promotion, marketing, and distribution. Student-led publications and publications that primarily print work by persons who are affiliated with a particular academic institution are not eligible.

You may use digital, audio, or online publications to establish eligibility, provided that such publications have competitive selection processes and offer professional editing. If the online publication or website no longer exists, you must provide, upon request, sufficient evidence that your work once appeared online. If sufficient evidence cannot be provided, the online publication cannot be used to establish your eligibility.

The following content may not be used to establish eligibility:

• Pre-publication material, such as galleys, proofs, and advance reader’s copies.
• Work that has appeared in a publication for which you are the editor, publisher, or staff.
• Scholarly writing.
• Instructional writing.
• News reporting.
• Book reviews.
• Editorials/letters to the editor.
• Interviews.