About

Languages Other than English (LOTE) Publishing Initiative

Closing date: 24 September 2010
Decisions advised: December 2010
Projects may start: 1 January 2011

The languages other than English (LOTE) publishing initiative supports the translation and publication of works by authors writing in languages other than English.

The Literature Board will accept proposals from Australian publishers who wish to translate into English and publish the work of living Australian authors who write in languages other than English. Publishers may apply for assistance with writer's and translator's fees and some production costs. The LOTE Publishing Initiative is intended to encourage partnerships between writers, translators and publishers and to introduce the work of LOTE writers to a wider Australian readership.

Proposals will be accepted in the following genres only:

• fiction
• literary non-fiction (defined by the board as autobiography, biography, essays, histories, literary criticism or analytical prose)
• children's literature
• poetry
• writing for performance (theatre, radio)
• writing for new media (defined by the board as original works of a literary nature for delivery predominantly via computer, mobile phone or similar device).

Multiple and hybrid genre projects are accepted.

Works for new media will be accepted where projects display either a poetic aesthetic, a narrative structure, a developed fictive world or a sustained analysis of events of a non-fiction nature, in line with the board’s definition of literary non-fiction. Works may include audience participation, user-generated content, and/or game-play, but must have a clear and consistent story world.

Please note:

The Literature Board does not assist in the creation of film and television scripts; textbooks and other works created for primary, secondary and tertiary educational purposes; newsletters; books which are primarily works of interviews; local and oral histories; military studies; instruction manuals; how-to books; academic theses or course work (including course work in creative writing); bibliographies; dictionaries; encyclopaedias; professional reference titles; guide books; catalogues; self-help, lifestyle and hobby books; or works of physical or natural sciences, theology, psychology, cooking, medicine or law.

In the case of new media applications, the literature board does not support works intended for delivery predominantly via cinema or television screen or works intended as marketing support for another work.

Funding for the production of new media works is not provided.

Publishers may seek the board’s assistance with one title only.

Publishers wishing to publish an anthology of LOTE writing must contact literature staff prior to submitting a proposal.

The board will consider proposals for the translation and publication of both new works and those that have been published in their original language by professional publishers within the last five years.

The nominated writer must be an Australian citizen or have permanent resident status in Australia. The nominated translator does not have to be an Australian citizen or reside in Australia.

Publishers must print at least 500 copies of a work of fiction or non-fiction and 250 copies of a playscript or work of poetry. Titles must have national distribution, ie, they must be distributed in every state and territory. Publishers are not eligible to apply for assistance to fund publication of their own written work.

You can apply for:

• Up to $15,000 per title towards full-length works of fiction and non-fiction allocated as follows: $7,000 for the writer, $5,000 for the publisher and $3,000 for the translator
• Up to $10,000 per title towards playscripts and works of poetry (including collected and selected editions) allocated as follows: $5,000 for the writer, $2,500 for the publisher and $2,500 for the translator.