Ottawa, July 12, 2010 – Over the next three years, more money than ever before will be available for official language translations by professional publishers through the National Translation Program for Book Publishing. In addition to increasing the availability of books in English and in French, the program will include three pilot initiatives to build capacity in the industry and improve the quality of translations.
The Department of Canadian Heritage is extending for three years its one-year agreement signed in 2009-10 with the Canada Council for the Arts and is transferring a total of $4.25 million to the Council to help publishers in Canada translate Canadian-authored books into English and French. This initiative is part of the Government’s Roadmap for Canada’s Linguistic Duality. The annual allocation is:
- 2010-11: $1.25 million
- 2011-12: $1.5 million
- 2012-13: $1.5 million
With the help of this funding available through the Book Publishing Support: Translation Grants Program, the Canada Council will also introduce the following three pilot initiatives beginning in 2010-11:
- Bilingual editor: publishers can apply for assistance to offset 75% of the cost of the services of a bilingual editor (not an employee) up to a maximum of $2,500 per publisher for translated manuscripts in order to ensure a smooth and accurate text. The funds are offered on a first-come first-served basis until the budget is expended. The funds can be applied to more than one title;
- Reader’s fees: Publishers will be able to apply for reader’s fees for prospective titles for translation up to a maximum of $1,500. The funds are offered on a first-come first-served basis until the budget is expended and can be applied to more than one title. This will facilitate the ability of publishers to assess the possibility of translating an existing title in the other official language. The reader would prepare a report on the book’s suitability for the publisher’s list;
- Translation Rights Fair: the Council will organize a Translation Rights Fair to increase the buying and selling of Canadian translation rights and to encourage ongoing relationships between the two linguistic groups. This one-day event will be open to all publishers, and travel grants will be available to those publishers receiving support from Canada Council Block Grants and Emerging Publisher Grants or from the Canada Book Fund. The date and location of the Translation Rights Fair will be confirmed at a later date.
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957. The role of the Council is to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. To fulfill this mandate, the Council offers a broad range of grants and services to professional Canadian artists and arts organizations in dance, integrated arts, media arts, music, theatre, visual arts, and writing and publishing. It also promotes public awareness of the arts through its communications, research and arts promotion activities.
The Council administers the Killam Program of scholarly awards, the Governor General’s Literary Awards and the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts. The Canadian Commission for UNESCO and the Public Lending Right Commission operate within the Council. The Canada Council Art Bank, which has some 17,400 works of contemporary Canadian art in its collection, rents to the public and private sectors.
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April Yorke
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