SLOLIA

Grant awards: the process and conditions

• Who can apply for a grant?

Foreign publishers who wish to publish Slovak literature in translation.

• What is the application procedure?

Please complete the grant application form and send it with copies of the author’s and translator’s contracts to the SLOLIA office.

• Deadlines

31 January, 30 April, 31 July and 31 October.

• What financial support can the applicant request?

A SLOLIA Board grant should fully or partly cover the costs of the translation, the author’s fee and, in justified cases, the printing and promotional costs. The amount of the grant depends on the number of translated pages and the difficulty of the text. It is also limited by the internal regulations of SLOLIA’s grant system.

• Which genres are supported?

Selections from the poetry of individual authors, poetry anthologies, novels, short story selections, prose anthologies, children’s and young adult books, text anthologies for children and young adults, selections from or anthologies of dramatic texts and, in exceptional cases, works of literary scholarship. We support translations into world languages, the languages of small nations and the languages of distant cultures.

• When will the grant be paid?

The approved sum will be transferred to the foreign publisher’s bank account when the SLOLIA Board receives five hard copies of the supported book. The foreign publisher must include the following text on the copyright page: This book was published with the financial support of the SLOLIA Board, Slovak Literary Centre. The SLC logo must also be displayed. If the publisher so requests in writing, the Slovak Literary Centre can also pay part of the grant (the amount stipulated under the author’s contract) directly to the Slovak author(s).

• Further conditions

• Valid grant applications will be assessed by members of the SLOLIA Board. The Board will make a decision on funding within six weeks of the deadline. The publisher will be informed of the decision in a registered letter or by email.    

• The book supported by the LIC grant must be published within two years of the subsidy being approved. In the event of any delays or other problems in publishing the book, the foreign publisher must notify the SLOLIA Board in writing.

• The SLOLIA Board can award grants only to books that have not yet appeared in book form at the time the application is submitted. Additionally, the Board may reduce the promised subsidy if it discovers that the copies of supported book are low-quality (cover, paper) and that the printing costs were much lower than the publisher stated in the application.

• When assessing the amount of the grant, the SLOLIA Board will take into account the quality of previously published subsidised volumes, along with the overall care given to distribution and promotion.

• The SLOLIA Board may defer a decision on awarding a grant if the budget allocated for supporting the publication of Slovak literature abroad has already been exhausted. In such a case, a decision on the grant will be made at the start of the following year.

• The SLOLIA Board will also provide financial support for the publication of foreign literary journals devoted to Slovak literature (at least three authors must be represented), or for the publication of longer texts by one author (e.g., a whole play, a novella, etc.). Editors-in-chief of literary journals may apply in writing for a grant throughout the year, with an estimate of costs and stating the amount of subsidy requested.