The Cultural Services Program of the French Embassy in the United States is based on Fifth Avenue in New York City at the 1906 Payne Whitney House designed by Stanford White.
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Three Biennial Programs Accepting Applications
The book department of French Culture in the United States—the French Embassy’s cultural outreach program—has issued a call for its three biannual translations programs.
In cooperation with Institut Français and the French American Cultural Exchange (FACE) Foundation, the program’s intent is to promote and foster translation in English from French and Francophone literature in fiction, nonfiction, children’s books, and comics. Eligible works should be previously unpublished.
Translation projects can be submitted until May 15.
Only works scheduled to be printed after March 2018 will be considered for the second session, because the support of the translation program must appear on a published edition’s copyright page.
In the case of French Voices grantees, a published edition must include a foreword and logo on the cover.
Submissions to the French Voices awards, Hemingway grants, and Acquisition of Rights grants may be made through this page.
Here are descriptions of the three programs currently open to submissions.
French Voices Awards honors both American translators and publishers for translations of works that have been published in France in the last six years. Recipients are selected by an independent literary committee.
Each book receives a $6,000 award, shared between the American publisher ($4,000) and the translator ($2,000), ($5,000 and $1,000 respectively in the case of a comic book or picture book).
Each year, the committee also elects a Grand Prize Winner, who receives $10,000 in total: $6,000 to cover the foreword fee and the publishing costs, and a $4,000 non-negotiable bonus to the translator ($7,000 and $3,000 respectively in case of a comic book or picture book).
A book tour will also be offered to the French author after his or her work is published in the States.
Hemingway Grants allow 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.
Grants awarded for each work range from $500 to $3,000.
Acquisition of Rights Grants: 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 (US$537) to €7,000 (US$7,524).
More information on publishing grants and prize programs from the French Embassy’s Cultural Services is here.