Nordic Translation Grants

Next application deadline is at 15:00, on September 16, 2024

Application deadlines: 15 February & 15 September.

Translations from Icelandic into other Nordic languages only.

The application form is available 4 weeks before the next application date. APPLY

The Icelandic Literature Center awards grants on behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers' to cover translation expenses for works which have been published in Iceland and translated from Icelandic into other Nordic languages.

Application deadlines:  15 February and 15 September. 

The application form is available 4 weeks before the next application date. APPLY

To be enclosed with the application:  

  • A presentation of the translator´s qualifications and previously translated and published titles.
  • A copy of the contract with the Icelandic right´s holder. 
  • A copy of the contract with the translator. 
  • Three (3) pages of sample text (translation) and a copy of the same text in the original language

How much you may apply for?

  • For a maximum of the translation fee agreed with the translator. Usually, however, grants will cover only a proportion of the translation fee.
  • The translation grant applies to the translator's base fee, not to royalties or a possible share of earnings from audiobooks or e-books.

Once you have submitted the application

You will be informed of the committee's decision no more than 6 weeks after the deadline. Once all cases from the same deadline have been completed, the result is sent out by email.

When a work has been supported by a translation grant from the Nordic Council of Ministers this must be acknowledged on the title page and on the dust jacket or, in the case of paperback editions, on the back cover.

In all of the above instances the logo of the Nordic Council of Ministers must also be displayed. 

The publisher shall send two copies of the translated work to The Icelandic Literature Center. The publisher shall also send one copy of the translated work to the Nordic Council of Ministers Secretariat, Store Strandstræde 18, DK-1255 Copenhagen K, Denmark and another copy to Nordic House, Sturlugötu 5, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland.

The Nordic translation grants are administered by the Danish Arts Foundation in collaboration with the various national literature centres.

Contacts in the Nordic countries:

DENMARK

Anne-Marie Rasmussen, Slots- og Kulturstyrelsen +45 3373 3373.
Deadline: 1.3 & 15.8.
www.kunst.dk Direct here.

FAEROE ISLANDS

Urd Johannesen, Faroese Literature (FarLit).
Deadline: 1.4. & 1.10.
www.farlit.fo/grants.

FINLAND

Johanna Pitkänen, FILI +358 40 5820975.
Deadline: 1.2., 1.5. & 1.11.
www.finlit.fi/fili Direct here.

GREENLAND

Juaaka Lyberth, Grønlands Forfatterforening.
Deadline: 1.4 & 1.10
atuakkiortut.gl Direct here.

NORWAY

Torill Johansen, NORLA, +47 23 08 41 07.
Deadline for literary fiction: 1.4, 1.8 & 15.11.
Deadline for non-fiction: 1.2, 1.6 & 1.10.
www.norla.no Direct here.

SAMI

Samisk kunstnerråd.
www.samidaiddar.no Direct here.

SWEDEN

Susanne Bergström Larsson, Statens kulturråd, +46-8-519 264 83.
Deadline: 9.2., 4.5 og 28.9 in 2021.
www.swedishliterature.se Direct here.