The competition organized by the Lithuanian Culture Institute (LCI) stood out for the very wide geography of the participating countries – from Chile, Peru, and Argentina in Latin America through Egypt, Western European countries, not forgetting the closest neighbors, all the way to Mongolia, India, and Sri Lanka in the East.
Summarizing the conclusions of the five experts who evaluated the applications for Lithuanian literature, translation, and publishing, funding was allocated for the translations of 32 Lithuanian authors’ books into 20 world languages: 3 Lithuanian authors’ books will be translated into Spanish and Ukrainian, 2 each into Albanian, Belarusian, Czech, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Swedish, and German, and one book each will be available in English, Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Estonian, Greek, Georgian, and Mongolian.
Translations will also be made into very rare languages in our region: Kęstutis Kasparavičius’s picture book “The Land of Lazybones” into Assamese, which has over 16 million users in the state of Assam, northeast India. Ben Berantas and Tania Rex’s picture book “Mr. Kampas” will appear in Sinhala, one of the two official languages of Sri Lanka, with over 15 million users.
“We appreciate and cherish every translation project participating in the competition, every new Lithuanian author’s book published abroad. The day when a package with six copies of a book still smelling of the printing house arrives at the Lithuanian Culture Institute office is a real celebration for us, who have contributed a little to the birth of the book, crowning the long and meticulous work of translators, editors, artists, printers, and publishers,” shares the funding competition coordinator Rūta Mėlinskaitė.
Books for adults – from classics to debut authors
In the second stage of the 2026 translation program, for books that will reach foreign readers in 2026-2027, a little over 85 thousand euros of state budget funds will be released. These funds will partially finance the translations of 17 books for adults – 13 prose, two poetry, and two historical biographical books, as well as translations of 15 illustrated children’s books.
Approaching the Lithuanian Year in Germany and the special presentation of our country at the Gothenburg Book Fair in Sweden, translations into Swedish and German are particularly relevant in the second stage of the translation funding competition.
Into Swedish, from the original edition “Vilnius – City of Strangers,” Laimonas Briedis’s historical study “Vilnius Own and Stranger” will be translated (translator Bitte Wallin, publisher “Bokförlaget Korpen”) and this year’s Poetry Spring laureate Giedrė Kazlauskaitė’s poetry book “Marialė” (translated by Liana Ruokytė-Jonsson, published by “Ideella föreningen Autor”).
Two books are being prepared for German readers – the classic of Lithuanian literature Žemaitė’s “Autobiography,” translated by the most titled Lithuanian literature translator and expert in Germany Claudia Sinnig, and published by the regular Lithuanian book publisher “Guggolz Verlag,” and the tragicomic Soviet-era stories told in Herkus Kunčius’s novel “Kolūkio metraščiai,” translated by the equally experienced and devoted to Lithuanian culture translator Cornelius Hell (published by “Mediathoughts Verlag”).
Among significant and relevant works is the translation into Belarusian of Balys Sruoga’s “Forest of the Gods” updated edition, not yet published in Lithuania, undertaken by the translator Siarhei Shupa residing in the Czech Republic, and published by his Prague-based publishing house “Vesna Vaško,” which in recent years has also published substantial novels translated by this translator by Antanas Škėma, Jurgis Kunčinas, and Kristina Sabaliauskaitė. In autumn, we will await the French edition of “Forest of the Gods,” prepared by one of the largest French publishers “Actes Sud,” translated by Miglė Dulskytė.
Danutė Kalinauskaitė’s novel “Whites Against Blacks” will be the fourth translation of this work supported by the translation program (previously translated into Latvian, Polish, and French). The complex, multilayered, historically rich text is being translated into Spanish by the most famous Lithuanian Hispanist, Vilnius University Romance Department docent, and laureate of various prestigious Lithuanian and Spanish state awards Carmen Caro Dugo, and will be published by the small but active Spanish publisher interested in Baltic literature “Báltica Editorial.”
Funding was also allocated for the new first adult novel “Nameless Buttons” by Vytautas V. Landsbergis, which received critical attention and favorable reviews and was noticed by translator Dacė Meierė at this year’s Vilnius Book Fair. This year, the book will also reach Latvian readers, published by the loyal Lithuanian literature publisher “Jāņa Rozes apgads.”
Attention to Kristina Sabaliauskaitė’s work continues – her stories from the collection “Vilnius. Wilno. Vilna” will speak in Ukrainian for the first time (translator Beatričė Beliavciv, publisher “Komora Publishing House”). Inspired by the enthusiastic translator Tiina Kattel and the success of the first part, Estonians will publish the second part of the “Silva rerum” tetralogy (publisher “Varrak Publishers”). Albanians plan to publish the second part of “Petro imperatorė” – translated from the French edition into Albanian by Dhimitër (Xhimi) Lazri (publisher “DITURIA Publishing House”). Both ongoing projects also received funding.
It is noticeable that foreign publishers, even from distant exotic countries, are interested in young Lithuanian authors. Among such surprises is the application from the Peruvian publisher “Colmena Editores” for the translation of Mykolas Sauka’s novel “Room” into Spanish. This autofictional story about miscommunication between genders and a young person’s loneliness in a modern city is translated into Spanish by the creative translator duo Margarita Santos Cuesta and Carmen Caro Dugo. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian publisher “Nika-Centre Publishing House” plans to publish the debut novel “In the City, No Longer Believing in Devils. Village Detective” by Kostas Strielkūnas, translated into Ukrainian by Vira Gubariva.
In the second stage of the competition, we also received more applications requesting funding for translations of works by young but already established Lithuanian authors – Ieva Dumbrytė, Gabija Grušaitė, Tomas Vaiseta, Akvilina Cicėnaitė.
Children’s books from serious Lithuanian post-war themes to super-grandmothers
Among the illustrated children’s books translated from Lithuanian in this translation funding stage, the graphic novel “The Girl with a Rifle. The Story of a Girl Partisan” by Marius Marcinkevičius and Lina Itagaki leads unsurprisingly. Over these and other years, it will be published by publishers from 4 countries – Bulgaria (“Janet 45 Publishing”), Belarus (“Stembridge Horizons,” operating in Lithuania), the Czech Republic (“Argo”), and the United Kingdom (“Scotland Street Press”). Thanks to the Lithuanian Culture Institute’s translation program, children in Latvia, Estonia, France, and Italy can already read this hardening and relevant book in the new reality of wars.
Funding was also allocated for the translation into Georgian of the post-war history book for children “Siberian Haiku” by Jurga Vilė and Lina Itagaki, which has received the most translations into foreign languages, to be published by the comics publisher from Sakartvelo “Matarebeli Comics,” and currently translated by probably the only Georgian translator Nana Devidze, who admitted she has long dreamed of translating this book. As many as 14 translations of this book into different languages have already received partial support from the translation program.
The cozy and colorful picture book “Happiness is a Fox” by Evelina Daciutė and Aušra Kiudulaitė, beloved by Lithuanian children, continues to attract the attention of children’s book publishers – it will be translated into Italian (translator Toma Gudelytė, publisher “Valentina Edizioni”) and Greek (translator Sotirios Souliotis, published by “Stefanos Patakis”).
Two translations – through English into Armenian and Sinhala – will enrich the list of translations of Ben Berantas and Tania Rex’s picture book “Mr. Kampas,” and Chilean children will be able to get acquainted with Ben Berantas’s book “Boogeyman,” illustrated by artist Vilija Kvieskaitė (published by “Minilupa Limitada”).
The Latvian children’s book publisher “Baltais valis” will publish the educational book “Jungle Stories” by Saulė Paltanavičiūtė, illustrated by Reda Tomingas, and the Italian publisher “MIMebù – MIM Edizioni” will publish the fun and adventurous book “Super-grandmothers” by Marius Marcinkevičius and Viktorija Ežiukas, aimed at children learning to work in a team with super-grandmothers who have various mysterious powers. This witty book is translated into Italian by Adriano Cerri, translator of Kristijonas Donelaitis’s “The Seasons.”
Read more Named the date by which the fate of Rimas Kurtinaitis will be revealed
All funded applications can be found here.
