Translation Grants
Flanders Literature awards grants to foreign language publishers and theatre companies for the translation of literary work written or illustrated by residents of Dutch-speaking Belgium. The work should originally have been published in Dutch by a Flemish or Dutch publishing house or staged by a professional theatre company in Flanders or in the Netherlands.
The purpose of these grants is to stimulate international publication or performance of work by Flemish authors, illustrators, playwrights and comic book authors.
The quality of the translation is the key to the success of a translated book. This is why Flanders Literature encourages publishers to work with professional literary translators and emphasises the importance of high-quality translations. Flanders Literature and its colleagues of the Dutch Foundation for Literature manage a database of acknowledged literary translators. If a publisher prefers to work with another literary translator, the quality of the translator's work is assessed first.
Foreign publishers can apply for financial assistance to cover 70% (fiction, non-fiction and children’s and young adult literature) or 100% (literary classics, poetry and drama) of the translator’s fee. For illustrated books (picture books, comics, graphic novels) and poetry publishers can also apply to cover 25% of the production costs (with a maximum of 4.000 euros). The maximum amount of a translation grant is 8,000 euros.
In 2027, Flanders and the Netherlands will be Guest of Honour at the Gothenburg Book Fair. Over the coming years, we look forward to showcasing Flemish literature in Sweden. Therefore, publishers of translations from Dutch into Swedish may even be eligible to have up to 90% of the translation costs reimbursed until the end of 2028. On top of that, we also reimburse 25% of production costs across all genres, with a maximum of 4,000 euros.
Guidelines 2025
Deadlines
Please submit your application at least three months before the book goes to print. If you submit your application after the deadline, no financial support will be possible.
MY FLANDERS LITERATURE
Applications should be submitted through the online portal My Flanders Literature. To apply for a grant through My Flanders Literature, you need to be registered as a contact person for an organisation. You cannot apply for grants as an individual. Once you've logged in to the platform, please select 'Continue as the contact person of an organisation' on the page 'Who am I?'.
We have created a manual to guide you through the application process step by step. If you have any questions, chances are you will find the answers here. Please always follow the procedures described in the manual. If something is not clear, let us know!