PEN Afrikaans Translation Fund

The PEN Afrikaans Translation Fund was established in June 2017 with financial support from the Trust vir Afrikaanse Opvoeding (Trust for Afrikaans Education).

This fund’s main objective is to promote Afrikaans literature internationally by generating more translations and translated publications of noteworthy Afrikaans works.

Not only is the translation of Afrikaans literary works into other world languages – especially languages like English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and the Scandinavian languages – an acknowledgment to the authors regarding the quality of their work and an opportunity to earn more income; it is also good for Afrikaans as a language. A literature that is not available in translation cannot be considered a world literature.

An international reputation for our authors promotes the stature of Afrikaans literature as a whole.

Due to the lack of an Afrikaans translation fund, a common phenomenon in other countries, it was extremely challenging to sell translation rights for Afrikaans writers’ works in the past. The PEN Afrikaans Translation Fund wants to fill this gap.

Decisions on the funding of applications will be taken by the management of PEN Afrikaans in consultation with a representative of the Trust for Afrikaans Education. The decisions of this assessment panel will be final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding rejected applications.

Applications for funding will be considered twice a year. The two deadlines for applications are 15 May and 15 November of each calendar year.

Inquiries, as well as completed applications, can be sent to: penafrikaans@gmail.com

Click here for more information and to download the application form.