IALA Launches $2500 Translation Grant

Please note: The deadline has been extended until October 14th, 2022 at midnight Eastern time.

The International Armenian Literary Alliance’s Translation Grant will award $2,500 to one translator working from Armenian source texts into English. In 2022, the grant will be awarded for any work of prose written in Western Armenian by a female author. Although preference will be given to more recent (post-20th century) works, we welcome works from any time period. The 2022 grant will be judged by Tatevik Ayvazyan, Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian, and Garen Torikian.

Given the traumatic history of the Armenian diaspora, many readers are unable to read works in the original Armenian, and therefore, have centuries of literature inaccessible to them. Translators working with Armenian texts have traditionally lacked resources in the publishing world, as well as access to other funding, due to the overwhelming influence of so-called “majority languages.” IALA’s Translation Grant is meant to foster the development of contemporary Armenian literature in English through a monetary award.

Additionally, in partnership with the Armenian Institute and Mashtots Press, IALA will support grant recipients in publishing and promoting the selected work. As Western Armenian is on UNESCO’s endangered languages list, we believe that it is imperative to bring more attention to Western Armenian literature. As female authors producing Armenian literature are a minority within a minority, it’s also necessary to highlight the works of these writers.

Application Period: September 1 – October 14, 2022

To apply: Please read the eligibility requirements and review criteria below. Then visit our grants page to apply.

The application will include a 5,000 word writing sample from the work you intend to use the grant to complete, a brief bio and personal statement. The full application will be posted online by September 1, 2022.

The winner will be announced in December, 2022.

This grant was made possible by a generous donation from the Armenian Allied Arts Association, an organization based in Southern California, which discovered, encouraged and promoted new talent of Armenian descent for over eighty years.

This grant is also generously supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation – Գալուստ Կիւլպէնկեան Հիմնարկութիւն, whose funding will ensure that the selected translation will be published through Mashtots Press and sold and promoted globally.

Eligibility and Requirements:

Age: Must be over 21 at time of application
Language: English
Applicants must be members of IALA at the time of application.
Applicants must be of Armenian descent or identity.
Not open to members of the IALA board of directors or advisory board.
No previous publication record is required.
Applicants may submit one application per year. Those who are not awarded the grant may re-apply in the future. Grant recipients are ineligible to re-apply for five years.
Source texts must be written in Western Armenian by a female author.
You may choose to submit any unpublished translation or a translation-in-progress.
The final manuscript of the translation must be completed by July 2023.

Review Criteria

Applications will be reviewed through a “blind” panel process. Judging will be based on literary excellence, originality, craft, style, and potential of the work. We expect the personal statement to also convey how receiving the grant will help the artist in the completion of their project.

To apply: Please read the eligibility requirements and review criteria above. Then visit our grants page to apply.