About the grants
The Book Department of the Cultural Services works to promote French and Francophone literature and to encourage English translations of French works. We oversee three grant programs to help publishers and translators with acquisition of rights cost and translation cost.
The deadline for French Voice Award, Hemingway Grant and Acquisition of Rights program is January 23, 2017 for the first session and May 15, 2017 for the second session.
SUPPORT FOR AMERICAN PUBLISHERS
The French Ministry of Culture, the Institut Francais, and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy offer aid to American publishers seeking to translate works from French to English.
SUPPORT FOR TRANSLATORS
The French Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, La Villa Gillet, and the PEN American Center offer grants and residencies for translators.
TRANSLATION PRIZES
The Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the French-American Foundation and PEN American Center award translation prizes for fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
GRANTS FOR PUBLISHERS
The Book Department of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy works with FACE (French American Cultural Exchange), the Institut français and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote French and Francophone literature and to encourage English translations of French fiction and non-fiction. To that effect, it provides a range of grants and awards. It oversees three bi-annual programs concerning translations from French into English of works that have not yet been published in the United States. All these grants are awarded to fiction and non fiction translations (including comic books and digital books).
1) MINISTRY OF CULTURE
Description
Designed to support translation of French books into other languages, this grants covers the cost of translation per se, not costs incurred for production or promotion. The commission meets twice a year, in March and September. For those works which it selects, the commission proposes a subsidy ranging between 20% and 50% of the cost of translation. This grant does not cover works in the public domain, scholastic books, practical manuals and handbooks, or periodicals.
Terms & Conditions
French publishers who hold rights to the works in question submit the application to the French Ministry of Culture. Subsidies range between 20% and 50% of the cost of translation. Applications are filled out in French and in liaison with the French publisher who holds the rights. The translated work must be remitted to the Centre national du livre (CNL) within thirty six (36) months of the decision to grant the subsidy. The grant is paid upon receipt of a copy of the published translation and of an acknowledgement of payment signed by the translator. The work in translation must appear with the following statement: "This work is published with support from the French Ministry of Culture/Centre national du livre."
Contact
Please contact the French publisher who will submit your application to the CNL and will inform you of the deadlines.
2) ACQUISITION OF RIGHTS GRANT
Description
The Institut français helps American publishers offset the cost of acquiring the rights to French works. Grant beneficiaries are selected by the Institut français in Paris. The amount awarded cannot exceed the amount of the advance paid to the French publisher for the acquisition of rights and varies from 500 to 7,000 Euros. American publishers wishing to participate and seeking a grant through this program should fill out the application form and provide the required documents listed below.
Terms & Conditions
This is a bi-annual program. In order to be processed, applications forms should be filled out online and all information should be uploaded on our website and received by January 23, 2017 for the first 2016 session and May 15, 2017 for the second session.
Requested Documents:
- completed online application form
- signed dated balanced budget
- signed convention, with the Institut Français (English translation, for information only)
- 2 copies of the book in French
Please find a translation of the convention in English Convention. This document is for reference only, applicants must complete and sign the FRENCH VERSION.
In addition, please mail two signed original hard copies of the convention to:
Alix de Cazotte, program officer for fiction
Cessions de droits/Assignment rights
Book Department, 972 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10075
If the amount awarded does not match the original request, American publishers selected to receive a grant will need to provide a corrected balanced budget with the amount of the grant that has been decided upon mentioned in the income column. The budget will need to be balanced, dated and signed by the Director of your publishing house.
* For contracts negotiated in US dollars, you must use Official exchange rate provided by the French Ministry of Finance on the date on which the contract was signed.
Contact:
Alix de Cazotte, program officer
Cession de droits / Acquisition of rights | Book Department
972 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10075
3) FRENCH VOICES
French Voices Award
2013 marks the transformation of the French Voices Program into an award dedicated to translators and American publishers. A detailed description of the award and application procedure are available under PRIZES (See in the "Further official information" link below this announcement).
4) HEMINGWAY GRANT
Description
The Hemingway Grant allows publishers to receive financial help for the translation and publication of a French work into English. Grant beneficiaries are selected by the Book Department of the French Embassy in the United States. Hemingway Grants are awarded to projects not already supported by the Centre national du livre and /or by the French Voices Award. Grants awarded for each work range from $500 to $3,000.
Terms & Conditions
American Publishers can apply for the Hemingway Grant for any translation project of a French title that has not yet been published in the United States. For titles published after 2006, please note that if the book is not selected for the French Voices Award, then it will automatically be considered for a Hemingway Grant.
NEW: Please note that we now welcome applications from American publishers before the acquisition of rights contracts are finalized. In this case, American publishers will have a limited time to sign a contract with the French publisher after receiving a positive answer. If contracts are not signed within that window of time, the grant will be allotted to another applicant. If you are hesitant about publishing a book due to a lack of funding, we hope the Hemingway Grant will be a determining factor in your decision to publish the book.
The online application form is already available.
To be considered, applications should be completed online by January 23, 2017 for the first session and May 15, 2017 for the second session.
Requested Documents:
- Completed online application form
- Two copies of the book in French
- Sample translation (Excerpt in French and English)
- Letter from the French publishing house certifying that the rights are available (or a copy of the contract with the French publisher regarding transfer of rights)
- A copy of the translator’s résumé
Please note that if you are selected to receive a Hemingway Grant you will be asked to provide additional documents.
For more information click "Further official information" below.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://frenchculture.org/books/grants-and-programs/publishing-grants-prizes