As you will know if you have picked up a copy of the magazine over the last few years, we’re big fans of works in translation. And so we were delighted when the Austrian Cultural Forum in London got in touch to ask whether we’d like to help judge their new writing prizes: the ACF Writing Prize and the ACF Translation Prize. Here’s the spiel:
The Austrian Cultural Forum London is thrilled to invite submissions of translations into English of Austrian poetry, short fiction and book extracts, and original short fiction and poetry in English inspired by Austrian arts and culture, up to 2000 words in length. This is the first time these prizes have been offered, and have been organised by the ACF Translator in Residence.
A winner and two commended runners-up will be selected for each prize. The winning translator and winning writer will have their pieces published in the print issue of literary journal Structo, and the winning and commended translators will also be invited to attend a translation workshop with the Translator in Residence. Both winning and selected commended translators and writers will be invited to read their work at an evening reception at the Austrian Cultural Forum on Wednesday 29th March.
Submissions to the Writing Prize should take “Austrian art, literature, culture and/or history, or Austria itself, as their starting point or subject”, while the Translation Prize covers not only poetry and short fiction, but also book extracts. The deadline is Monday the 13th of March [Edit: Deadline extended until Mach 20th!], and it’s free to submit work. Head over here for full details.