Deadline aanvragen mentoraat National Centre for Writing te Norwich

Applications for the 2025–2026 ETM programme are open!

The 2025–26 languages are:

• Arabic (mentored by Sawad Hussain)
• Faroese (mentored by Marita Thomsen)
• Dutch from Flanders (mentored by Jonathan Reeder)
• Korean (mentored by Clare Richards)
• Lithuanian (mentored by Kotryna Garanasvili)
• Norwegian (mentored by Rosie Hedger)
• Polish (mentored by Sean Gasper Bye)
• Languages of India (mentored by Mohini Gupta); this mentorship is open to India-based translators only, who have not received a Charles Wallace India Trust fellowship in the last five years and who agree to attend London Book Fair as part of the mentorship.

All mentorships are open to translators based anywhere in the world, except for the Languages of India mentorship, which is available only to those based in India.

Here’s what to expect from the application process.

What selected mentees will receive

Mentees receive six months of personal mentoring with a mentor in their language or field.  They will also be awarded an £800 stipend to cover expenses associated with the mentorship, such as travel, with an uplift of up to £300 if the mentee attends London Book Fair.  (Mentees selected onto the Arabic, Dutch from Flanders and the Languages of India strands will receive additional financial support for travel).

The mentorship will include various online industry events with tailored training and talks, a feature at International Translation Day and attendance of London Book Fair with a networking day in either Norwich or London.  The mentees’ work will also be celebrated in a concluding digital showcase, when a print and digital anthology with samples of the mentees’ translations will be published, to further amplify their work.  In addition, mentees are offered one year’s membership of the Society of Authors/Translators Association.

National Centre for Writing will facilitate an initial planning meeting between successful applicants and their mentors to agree on the scope of their project and how they will work together. The mentoring period lasts from October 2025 to March 2026, including an in-person meeting in Norwich or London from 9-12 March 2026. During this time, the mentoring pair will meet at least four times, either in person, by virtual media or by phone as appropriate and agreed between them. In between meetings, they will exchange work and comments via email.

Who can apply?

The programme is open to emerging translators at no cost to them. An emerging translator is someone who has published no more than one full-length work of literary translation. MFA and MA students in translation can apply, but priority may be given to those who do not have access to the kind of guidance already present in a translation degree programme.

Though English is the target language, the emerging translator need not live in the UK. Please note additional eligibility criteria for some mentorships, however:

• Languages of India (mentored by Mohini Gupta); this mentorship is open to India-based translators only, who have not received a Charles Wallace India Trust fellowship in the last 5 years and who must attend London Book Fair as part of the mentorship (NCW and the Charles Wallace India Trust will be on hand for visa applications).

We particularly welcome applications for all mentorships from those groups which are currently under-represented in the literary translation community.

How to apply

Applications need to be uploaded via a Google Form. Please note, you will need a Google account (which can be created easily and linked to a non-Google email address) to upload your application documents.

Your application must include the following:

• A one-page covering letter stating why you believe you would benefit from a mentorship, and what you can bring to the mentor and mentorship
• Your CV: with a focus on your translation work and experience (no more than three pages)
• A one-page sample book proposal: this should demonstrate your understanding of the text, author and source culture, but also of the English language market for the translation and its target readership
• A sample translation of up to 2,000 words of prose or up to 100 lines poetry or dramatic text: this is ideally taken from your sample book project, but can also be a different text or texts
• The source text that corresponds to your sample translation
• Please also complete the brief survey on equality, diversity and inclusion, which is included in the Google Forms link above. For each question, there is an option to select ‘Prefer not to say’ and all answers will be treated
• Please note: you MUST NOT use artificial intelligence (“AI”) for any part of your application, including the sample translation. The use of AI in your application will render it ineligible.

The deadline for receipt of entries is 11.59pm BST, Sunday 31st August 2025.

Applications will be assessed by the relevant mentor. Their assessment will be based on the following criteria:

• strength of the sample proposal: how well the applicant demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the text, author, language and possible issues; how original and relevant the text and author are for a translation project into English; the applicant’s awareness of the source language market, and target language market and audience in English
• strength of the translation: the applicant’s technical competence in handling the grammatical, syntactical and stylistic features of the source text; how well written, creative and enjoyable the translation is; and
• the mentor’s own suitability to best support an applicant.

Successful applicants will be informed by mid-September and will be announced publicly on International Translation Day on 30 September 2025 with a short, pre-recorded video. Please make sure you are available to record and email a short video by 28 September 2025.

If you require assistance to make the application process more accessible for you, please email translation@nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk with the subject ‘ETM 25/26‘ and the language or mentorship strand for which you are applying. 

Application form

More information: check out the website of the National Centre for Writing.