The competition decided on aid for the translation of 23 works and the publication of 23 works abroad, representatives said.
In total, project applications from 42 foreign publishers and 32 translators were submitted to the competition. The applications were evaluated by an expert commission. A total of EUR 51 360 has been allocated to support translators, which will lead to Latvian authors' works being translated into 18 languages. EUR 45 000 has been allocated to support publishers, which will allow Latvian literature to be issued in 15 different languages this year.
This time, the platform "Latvian Literature" has received about 30% more applications than in the previous competition, indicating that interest in publishing Latvian literature abroad continues to grow: "Most publishers are planning several years ahead. Therefore, the most important thing is that our existing and new partners can count on that support to be available in the coming years," said Juta Pīrāga, spokeswoman for "Latvian Literature".
Among the projects supported are, for example, the Hungarian translation of the novel "Pieci pirksti" by Māra Zālīte, the translation of the novel "Jelgava 94" by Jānis Joņevs in Spanish, the translation of "Kas te notiek" by Rvīns Varde in Estonian, the English translation of the novel “Zelts” by Andrejs Upīts, and many others. The list of supported works can be found on the website of the “Latvian Literature” platform.
This year's first competition for translation and publication of Latvian literature took place in February, supporting applications from 13 foreign publishers and 13 translators. The next competition will be announced in February 2021.
