2027 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants

The PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants were established in the summer of 2003 by a gift from Priscilla and Michael Henry Heim in response to the low number of literary translations appearing in English. Their purpose is to promote the publication and reception of translated world literature in English. 

Deadline: Submissions will be accepted from April 15 through June 15, 2026. Submissions will close at 11:59 p.m. EST on June 15th.

Eligibility: 

• Translations of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or drama, originally written by a single individual.
• Translations should not have previously appeared in English in print or should have appeared only in an outdated or otherwise flawed translation.
• The project must be an unpublished work in progress that will not be published prior to April 15, 2027, as the grants are intended to support the completion of a final book.
• There are no restrictions on the nationality or citizenship of the translator, but the works must be translated into English.
• Projects may have a maximum of two translators but are limited to one original author.

NOT eligible: Translations of works with multiple original authors, such as anthologies, translations of literary criticism, and scholarly or otherwise technical texts.  

Note: Translations from Italian will automatically be considered for the PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature.

Note: Translators may only submit one project per year. Projects that have been previously submitted and have not received a grant are unlikely to be reconsidered in a subsequent year. Translators who have previously been awarded PEN/Heim Translation Fund grants are ineligible to reapply for three years after receiving a grant–for example, grant recipients from 2023 are now eligible to reapply.

Submission guidelines:

All documents should be formatted in 12pt Times New Roman, single spaced, with 1-inch margins.

• A 1-2 page statement outlining the work and describing its importance.
• A biography and bibliography of the author, including information on translations of their work into other languages.
• A CV of the translator, no longer than 3 pages.
• If the book is not in the public domain and the project is not yet under contract, please include a photocopy of the copyright notice on the original (the copyright notice is a line including the character ©, a date, and the name of the copyright holder, which appears as part of the front matter in every book). Please note that for some foreign titles, the front matter may not include a ©. Additionally, please include a letter from the copyright holder stating that English-language rights to the book are available; a copy of an email from the copyright holder is sufficient.
• If the translation is currently under contract with a publisher, please submit a copy of the contract.
• A translation sample is required. For prose, this should be within the range of 5-8 pages (when formatted as required, this will be approximately 3,000-5,000 words). For poetry, please include 1-2 poems per page, within an 8–10 page range.
• The same passage in the original language (and, if the work has been previously translated, the same passage in the earlier version). 

Please consult our FAQ before directing any questions to awards@pen.org