A call from beyond: Paul Celan

This one goes out to all the translators! Do you have an interest in East European languages or are already involved with translating from a East European language to a West European language or vice versa? Then keep on reading!

The Paul Celan Fellowship Program is inviting translators to spend three to six months between July 2017 and June 2018 at the IWM (Institute for Human Sciences) in Vienna to pursue their translation projects. Fellows receive a monthly stipend in the amount of EUR 2,050 to cover all expenses related to their stay. In addition, the IWM provides the fellows with an office, including access to internet, in-house research and administrative facilities as well as other services free of charge.

The aim of the program is to overcome deficits and asymmetries in the exchange of ideas and the reception of scholarly literature resulting from the division of Europe in the 20th century. In order to promote these causes, the program supports translations of canonical texts and contemporary key works in the humanities, social sciences and cultural studies from Eastern to Western, Western to Eastern, or between two Eastern European languages.

In order to apply you have to submit the following via an online application form:

  • a curriculum vitae with a bibliography of translations and other relevant publications
  • the name of the author and the work to be translated (from the original language) and an explanation for the choice thereof
  • the exact number of pages
  • a contract or a letter of intent from a publisher as proof that the translator/publisher holds the rights to the translation and its publication (or has an option for them)
  • the planned date of publication
  • information on the program of the publishing house

The deadline for the application is February 6th 2017, so there is still time to gather all the information needed. For more information on the selection and application process, head on over to the IWM site: http://www.iwm.at/fellowships/celan/


Paul Celan (1920–1970) was a Romanian poet and translator. He was born as Paul Antschel into a Jewish family and changed his name to “Paul Celan”. While his parents were deported and eventually died in Nazi labor camps, Celan himself was interned for eighteen months before escaping to the Red Army. He is regarded as one of the most important German-language poets of the post-World War II era.

Leave a Reply