Circulation of European literary works
Topic code: CREA-CULT-2027-LIT
General information
Programme: Creative Europe Programme (CREA) Call: Circulation of European literary works (CREA-CULT-2027-LIT) Type of action: CREA-LS CREA Lump Sum Grants Type of MGA: CREA Lump Sum Grant [CREA-AG-LS] Status: Forthcoming Deadline model: Single-stage Planned opening date: 21 October 2026 Deadline date: 27 January 2027 17:00:00 Brussels time
Topic description
Expected Impact: The action is expected to support around 40 projects, implemented either by a single entity (mono-beneficiary) or by a consortium of organisations (multi-beneficiary).
Objective: This action will support projects that will translate, publish, distribute, and promote European Literature. This action complements the other Creative Europe support actions to the book and publishing sector, such as reading promotion through the European Authors Day to younger audiences and the European Union Prize for Literature targeting European emerging authors.
The works covered by this call for proposals are European literary works, such as novels, short stories, theatre plays and radio plays, poetry, literary reportage, comic books as well as children and youth literature.
For the purposes of this call for proposals ‘European literary works’ refers to works written by authors who are linked to an eligible country (Creative Europe countries)[EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)) + non-EU countries: listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Creative Europe Programme (list of participating countries)], by their nationality or place of residence, or who are recognised as belonging to the European literary heritage.
Themes and priorities In line with the current cultural policy priorities, applicants should propose projects contributing to:
1. EU Overarching priorities: Applicants must describe in their application how, in the design and implementation of their projects, they intend to contribute to the EU's Overarching priorities.
2. The following specific priorities:
- Increasing the transnational circulation and the diversity of European literary works, notably through the translation, publication, distribution and promotion of works written in less translated languages;
- Promoting reading and the linguistic and cultural diversity of European literature to a large audience, through increasing discoverability of the literary works supported;
- Supporting the profession of literary translator, in line with the principles of good working conditions and fair remuneration publishers should ensure that the names of the translators appear visibly in published books, and preferably on the cover, and that the source language is also clearly mentioned;
- Increasing the competitiveness of the book sector by encouraging cooperation between different actors within the book value chain, notably between publishers, booksellers, and libraries.
In addition, as part of the exceptional support to Ukraine, applicants are encouraged to propose activities facilitating the circulation of books from and/or into Ukraine, as well as their translation into or from Ukrainian. In addition, projects aimed at providing books in the Ukrainian language to Ukrainian refugees and displaced people will be encouraged. In this context, the printing in Ukrainian of (non-translated) Ukrainian books will be eligible.
To support the profession of literary translator, in accordance with the principles of good working conditions and fair remuneration, it is recommended that between 20 and 30%[This percentage will apply to novel literary genre.] of the total project budget is allocated to the remuneration of translators and that translators are given recognition and visibility, particularly being credited, preferably on the cover page.
To preserve the profession of literary translator, and the quality of translation, machine translation is excluded from this call. Publishers will have to sign contracts with professional human literary translators, and the data about the chosen translators must be clearly indicated in the overview of translations in the Creative Europe Database (see section 5. Admissibility and documents). In this regard, publishers should respect national standards and follow best practices, referring to and using, the ‘Translators on the cover’ report and, as an example, the ‘Guidelines for fair translation contracts’ drawn up by CEATL.
Scope: Translation, publication, promotion, and distribution activities as well as activities addressing the themes and priorities described above. More specifically:
- Activities relating to literary works to be translated, published and promoted, as part of a robust publishing strategy and an effective distribution plan.
- Activities aimed at facilitating collaboration between the various stakeholders in the book and publishing value chain: authors, translators, publishers, distributors, booksellers, libraries, literary events and festivals.
The proposed activities should be grouped, in the application form (part B), in coherent work packages. Each work package must have a corresponding list of activities, deliverables, milestones, and critical risks.
Topic conditions and documents
Conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: Proposal page limit and layout As described in the call document section 5 (Admissibility and documents) and section 6 (Eligibility).
2. Eligible countries As described in the call document section 6 (Eligibility).
3. Proposal page limits and layout Part B of the application form (technical description) is limited to maximum 70 pages. Please refer to the call document section 5 (Admissibility and documents).
4. Evaluation Evaluation criteria, scoring, threshold and process are described in the call document section 8 (Evaluation and award procedure) and section 9 (Award criteria).
5. Indicative timetable for evaluation and grant agreement Publication of the call: 7 October 2026. Deadline for submitting applications: 27 January 2027 17:00:00 CET (Brussels time). Evaluation period: February - May 2027. Information to applicants: July 2027. Signature of grant agreement: October 2027.
Call document and annexes:
Application form templates (For information only) Standard application form (CREA CULTURE) — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System Detailed budget table (CREA LSII) Declaration on publications (CREA CULT LIT)
Model Grant Agreements (MGA) CREA MGA
Additional documents: CREA Annual Work Programmes CREA Regulation 2021/818 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement
Budget overview
| Topic | Budget year : 2027 | Stages | Opening date | Deadline | Contributions | Indicative number of grants | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | CREA-CULT-2027-LIT - CREA-LS CREA Lump Sum Grants | 5 000 000,00 € | Single-stage | 21 October 2026 | 27 January 2027 | | |
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Online Manual – Step-by-step online guide through the Portal processes from proposal preparation and evaluation to reporting on your ongoing project. Valid for all 2021-2027 programmes.
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