Apply to PEN Presents

PEN Presents is open for submissions from any language and region, closing 31 January 2023.

PEN Presents supports and showcases sample translations, funding the often-unpaid work of creating samples, giving UK publishers access to titles from underrepresented languages and regions, and helping diversify the translated literature landscape.

PEN Presents is open to literary translators anywhere in the world, for proposals to create sample translations of previously untranslated works.

This round of PEN Presents is open to proposals for translations of works in any language and from any geography, of any form, genre and style.

This round is a collaboration between English PEN and Translating Women, supported by an Open Innovation Platform grant from the University of Exeter and the AHRC project Changing the Landscape: Diversity and Translated Fiction in the UK Publishing Industry.

Read the eligibility criteria below, download an application form, and submit a proposal.

PEN Presents is open to translators at any stage in their career, and we particularly welcome proposals from voices underrepresented in the translation community, heritage speakers and L2 translators, and those who do not have established access to publishers and commissioning editors. English PEN welcomes communication from translators who are keen to apply but unsure about the process, and are able to provide guidance to potential applicants.

Proposals will be assessed by an independent Selection Panel of experts from across the literary sector – writers, agents, scouts, publishers, booksellers and critics – and expert translators and language specialists. 12 shortlisted applicants, selected by the Panel, will each be awarded a grant of £500 to create a 5,000-word sample translation for the proposed work. 6 of these samples will then be selected as PEN Presents winners, and showcased in an issue on the PEN Presents digital platform. English PEN will offer editorial support to selected samples and promote them to UK publishers.

PEN Presents applications will be assessed in terms of their literary quality, the strength of the proposed project, and their contribution to bibliodiversity.

Eligibility criteria

This round of PEN Presents is open to:

– translators based anywhere in the world;

– translators at any stage of their career;

– works of fiction (including short fiction, drama, poetry, children’s literature, graphic novels and illustrated literature) and non-fiction – but not purely academic work or magazines;

– works not yet published in English translation in any territory (where ‘published in English translation’ is taken to mean legally and with the consent of the rightsholder translated and published in any form);

– works of any era;

– works of any length;

– works where English translation rights (UK or World English) are available;

– works originally written/published in any language;

– works by writers from anywhere in the world.

Translators can submit only one proposal to a round of PEN Presents.

Proposals for both works that have been published in their original language and those that have not are eligible (provided that a copy of the original-language text of unpublished works can be shared as part of the assessment process).

Proposals for works containing multiple languages are eligible.

Proposals for works to be translated from a bridge language are eligible.

Proposals for co-translations are eligible, and where co-translators are submitting a proposal they should use only one application form, and collate their CVs into one document. If a submission for a co-translation is shortlisted, the £500 grant will be split between the translators, and they should create only one 5,000- word sample.

Proposals for works for which a countersigned contract exists between a publisher and translator for an English translation are not eligible.