Call for Applications 2025–2026
Objective
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 20th century. Therefore, the program supports translations of canonical texts as well as 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.
Conditions
Paul Celan Visiting Fellows are invited to spend three months between September 2025 and June 2026 at the IWM to pursue their translation projects. Fellows receive a monthly stipend in the amount of EUR 3,300 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. Generally, fellowships start on the first day of the month and end on the last day of the month.
Application
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. 6,000 characters incl. spaces)
- 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.
Applications are now closed.
Selection
The finalists will be selected by a jury of experts. Applicants will be notified of the jury’s decision in the spring semester of 2025. The jury is not required to publicly justify its decisions, nor to provide applicants individual feedback on their applications.
Cooperation Partner
Founded in 2003 by German publisher Monika Schoeller, the S. Fischer Foundation is dedicated to the promotion of international cultural exchange initiatives, specifically in the field of literature. The Foundation’s eponymous patron, Samuel Fischer, represents the foundation’s humanistic core values.
In line with its mission statement to promote cultural exchange, the S. Fischer Foundation has supported translators and translations of contemporary German literature in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary, Poland, and Turkey since 2003. In 2008, in a private-public partnership, it initiated TRADUKI, a European network for literature and books.
Kasper Nowak
Fellowship Program Coordinator
fellowships@iwm.at
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.
