Publishing Scotland sets January 22 deadline for translation grants
Round two of the 2026-27 fund covers all genres and is open to publishers based outside the U.K.
Publishing Scotland has opened round two of its 2026-27 translation grant program, with applications due January 22, 2027, Publishing Perspectives reported. The fund pays publishers based outside the U.K. to help cover the cost of buying rights from Scottish and U.K. publishers and agents to translate contemporary Scottish writers, and it is open to all genres, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children's books and graphic novels. Publishers may apply once a year.
Publishing Scotland said assessment criteria include the merit of the work to be translated, the publisher's financial need, the track record of the publisher and translator, and the proposed marketing plan, according to the outlet. The awards panel may also weigh the "passion and enthusiasm" behind the work selected. Questions can be directed to Lucy Feather at Publishing Scotland.
Launched in 2015 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival and administered by Publishing Scotland on behalf of Creative Scotland, the fund has supported translation of 284 Scottish-authored publications into approximately 45 languages since its start, the outlet reported. The first 13 awards of the 2026-27 program were recently announced, including a first award for a Sinhalese-language publication, and titles such as the Booker-shortlisted John of John by Douglas Stuart and Blue Peter Book Award-winner A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll.
If you write in a genre that usually gets overlooked for translation money — poetry, graphic novels, kids' books — take note: this fund explicitly covers all of them, not just literary fiction. It's not you who applies, it's your foreign publisher, so if you've got rights interest from abroad, point them at this now. January 22, 2027 feels far off. It isn't, once a publisher has to pull together a marketing plan and a case for financial need.
From the Coral Wire edition of Sat, Nov 14 2026 · Coral Index 69/100 (Tailwinds building)