Publishing Scotland Names First Translation Fund Awardees
Thirteen publishers across the world will receive support to translate Scottish writers into their languages in the first round of 2026/27 awards.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Books
Publishing Scotland has announced the first round of recipients for its Translation Fund for 2026/27, with 13 publishers selected to translate Scottish-authored works. The fund, supported by Creative Scotland, helps international publishers bring Scottish writing to new readers.
Why it matters
The fund offers financial support to international publishers seeking to translate Scottish writers, extending the reach of Scottish literature beyond its borders. For readers worldwide, it creates access to Scottish voices in languages where they would otherwise be unavailable.
The fund has supported 284 new Scottish-authored publications into approximately 45 languages since 2015, and the first 2026/27 round includes 13 publishers. The total award value for this round has not been disclosed in the source material.
The players
Publishing Scotland
Publishing Scotland is the trade body for Scottish book publishers, which administers the Translation Fund.
Creative Scotland
Creative Scotland is the public arts development body for Scotland that supports the Translation Fund.
The details
Awards go to publishers across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children's books and graphic novels through a competitive process that gives priority to contemporary literature. Recipients named in the first round include Armaenia Editorial in Madrid, which will translate Kapka Kassabova's Elixir into Spanish, and Dedunna in Sri Lanka, which will translate Elle McNicol's A Kind of Spark into Sinhalese.
Timeline
2015: The Translation Fund launches.
2026/27: First round of awardees is announced.
2 November 2026: Publishing Scotland publishes the announcement of first-round recipients.
Before the end of 2026: A second round of awardees is expected to be announced.
Industry Dynamics
The fund's round of 2026/27 awards continues a program running since 2015 that has backed 284 Scottish-authored titles, extending a publicly supported model for moving national literature into foreign markets. The source does not indicate whether the scale of awards is changing from earlier rounds.
Readers in the languages receiving funded translations, including Spanish, Sinhalese and French, will be able to access Scottish titles that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Readers in Scotland will not see a direct change, as the awards support publication abroad.
The takeaway
Support for translation is one way Scottish writers reach readers who might never encounter their work otherwise. Keeping an eye on the second round of awards will show how the fund's reach continues to grow.
What happens next
A second round of Translation Fund awardees is planned to be announced before the end of 2026.
Further reading
For more on how Scottish writing travels abroad, browse the Books section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Publishing Perspectives.
