The Application System for Grants has been Expanded
The Petőfi Literary Fund has announced its new portfolio of grants on its homepage. The portfolio has been rethought and expanded, drawing in part on successful examples and best practices abroad. An array of grants is being offered in order to provide support for publication of Hungarian literature in translation in the international arena, but also for works which are intended for performance, including on stage, and works rich with illustrations.
The Petőfi Literary Fund launched its webpage on June 19, 2020. The Fund, which was created by uniting Publishing Hungary and the Hungarian Books and Translations Office (which had been part of the Petőfi Literary Museum) and which belongs to the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, works to draw the attention of readerships outside of Hungary to Hungarian literature.
With the reorganization of the various tasks and responsibilities of the Petőfi Literary Fund, the portfolio of grants intended to provide support for the publication and performance in translation of works of Hungarian literature and the participation of representatives of Hungarian literary life in events abroad has expanded dramatically. Information concerning the grants can be found perhaps the most easily on the new website for the fund, www.plf.hu. Publishing houses, agencies, and translators will find all the necessary details concerning the various grants which are open at any given time and the results of grant application processes which have come to a close.
The program includes more than a half-dozen grant opportunities from which potential applicants can chose. We offer three new opportunities for sample translations. Publishing houses and literary agencies can apply for samples translation grants, but we are also now offering grants to seasoned translators and translators who are in the early stages of their careers.
As one of the innovative aspects of the new portfolio, publishing houses can apply for funding not only to defray the costs of translation, but also to help cover other sundry costs of publication. This opportunity is intended to help further the publication abroad of texts which may contain very little text, but which are all the more sumptuous in their illustrations.
One of the groundbreaking features of the new system of grants is that it offers opportunities for contemporary and canonical Hungarian drama and literature for the stage. The application process for this support, which is available to theatres and theatre companies abroad, is continuously open, and applications are evaluated and decisions reached on a monthly basis.
In order to ensure that we make the best use of our Hungarian literary “exports,” we offer opportunities not only for the promotion of texts, but also for individual authors. This new grant, which we have dubbed the “micro-grant,” is intended for authors and literary translators who have been given an invitation to take part in an event abroad, for instance a literary or art festival, a conference, a reading, or a book opening. With this grant, the Petőfi Literary Fund hopes to create opportunities for more and more Hungarian authors to establish themselves on the international stage. The application process is continuously open, and applications are evaluated and decisions reached on a monthly basis.
In addition to administrating these grants, the Petőfi Literary Fund is also involved in numerous other projects. Two months ago, it oversaw the launch of the Online World Literature Magazine 1749 and began organizational work on the international writers’ residence program. The Fund is also contributing as a partner institution to the organization of the PesText International Literary Festival, which will be held now for the second time on September 22–26.
More information concerning the grants and the projects is available at Grants & Calls.