IWM Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators 2024

The aim of the Paul Celan Fellowship Program is to overcome deficits and asymmetries in the exchange of ideas and the reception of scholarly literature that result from the division of Europe in the twentieth century.

Paul Celan (1920–1970) was a Romanian poet and translator. He was born into a Jewish family as Paul Antschel, before changing 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.

• Table of Content
• About Institute for Human Sciences (IWM)
• IWM Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators
• Aim and Benefits of IWM Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators
• Requirements for IWM Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators Qualification
• Interview date, Process and Venue for IWM Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About Institute for Human Sciences (IWM)

The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) is an institute of advanced studies in the humanities and social sciences. Founded as a place of encounter in 1982 by a young Polish philosopher, Krzysztof Michalski, and two German colleagues in neutral Austria, its initial mission was to create a meeting place for dissenting thinkers of Eastern Europe and prominent scholars from the West. Since then it has promoted intellectual exchange across disciplines, between academia and society, and among regions that now embrace the Global South and North. The IWM is an independent and non... continue reading

IWM Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators

Aim and Benefits of IWM Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators

Fellows receive a monthly stipend in the amount of EUR 3,000 to cover all expenses related to their stay in Vienna. 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.

Requirements for IWM Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators Qualification

Therefore, 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. Special emphasis is put on translations of relevant works written by East European authors and/or by female scholars. A thematic relation to one of the research fields of the IWM is likewise welcomed.

Please note that fiction and poetry will not be accepted.

Interview date, Process and Venue for IWM Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators

The finalists will be selected by a jury of experts. Applicants will be notified of the jury’s decision in the spring semester of 2024. The jury is not required to publicly justify its decisions, nor to provide applicants individual feedback on their applications.

Paul Celan Visiting Fellows are invited to spend three months between September 2024 and June 2025 at the IWM to pursue their translation projects.

Generally, fellowships start on the first day of the month and end on the last day of the month.

Application Deadline

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted through the IWM's online application form; we will be unable to consider applications sent via email.

Application materials consist of the following:

• a brief letter of motivation that addresses how the project would benefit from time at the IWM, the connection to the IWM’s mission and research, and concrete research/writing goals during the fellowship
• a project description (max. 550 characters)
• a project proposal (max. 7,500 characters incl. spaces) containing a description of the project’s a) objectives, b) the state of the art, c) methods, and d) a work plan
• a curriculum vitae with a bibliography of translations and other relevant publications
• a contract or a letter of intent from a publisher
• proof that the translator/publisher holds the rights to the translation and its publication (or has an option on them)

All application materials should be in English.

Important! Attached documents must be combined into a single PDF, as the online submission form only allows for one attachment. File names of attachments must use Latin characters. 

For more details visit: IWM website.