Words Without Borders Receives $100,000 Grant

Hawthornden Foundation has awarded a $100,000 general operating grant to Words Without Borders.

The new funding will allow WWB to “scale up its impact and reach a wider and more international community,” per the organization. Notably, the grant follows WWB’s recent investments in the field of literary translation, including new grants and fellowships for early-career literary professionals; a 20% increase in rates paid to their contributing writers, translators, and editors; and an expansion of training opportunities for teachers looking to bring global literature to their students.

“Hawthornden Foundation is doing vital work to support the literary arts at a time when they have been forsaken by the NEA,” Samantha Schnee, WWB’s board chair and founding editor, said. “WWB is deeply grateful to the Foundation and their trustees for this grant, which will have a tremendous impact on WWB’s operations, programming, and community.”

WWB is the largest digital platform for contemporary literature in English translation. Since 2003, the organization has provided readers of English free access to writing from 147 countries, translated from 142 languages.