ALTA Travel Fellowships

ALTA Travel Fellowships

Each year, a number of $1,000 fellowships are awarded to emerging translators to help them participate in the annual ALTA conference. For the ALTA Travel Fellowships, an emerging translator is someone who does not yet have a book-length work of translation published or under contract. ALTA considers chapbooks to be book-length publications for the Travel Fellowships. The ALTA Travel Fellowships are open to individual translators (not teams of co-translators).

We strive for inclusivity and diversity in our applicants. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, regardless of ethnicity, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, ability status, educational level or professional experience, including those with prior training or experience in non-literary translation; those who are speakers of Indigenous languages; and those who are heritage speakers of languages other than English. While the Travel Fellowships are open to all applicants, we especially encourage applications from translators of color, translators with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ translators.

The Peter K. Jansen Memorial Travel Fellowship, beginning with the 2016 ALTA Travel Fellowship year, will be preferentially awarded to an emerging translator of color or a translator working from an underrepresented diaspora or stateless language. Applicants for the Jansen Fellowship should apply using the online ALTA Travel Fellowship application, and check the Jansen Fellowship eligibility box in the application form.

At the conference, ALTA Fellows are invited to read their translated work at a keynote event, giving them an opportunity to present their translations to an audience of translators, authors, editors, and publishers from around the world. Learn about previous years' fellows here.


Applications must include:

  • A cover letter explaining your interest in sharing your work with the ALTA community
  • Current CV / resumé (list all translation credits, including fortchoming works under contract)
  • Up to 10 pages of translated work (single-spaced for poetry or double-spaced for prose)
  • The corresponding original language text

Applications are accepted through the entry form online. Submissions closed April 17, 2023. Submissions for the 2024 awards cycle will open mid-January 2024.

Please note that translators currently participating in ALTA's Emerging Translator Mentorship Program are not eligible to apply for a Travel Fellowship. Previous years' Fellows are welcome to apply for the Mentorship Program, however.