Submissions are now open for the Malta Book Fund 2018

The National Book Council is pleased to announce that submissions for the Malta Book Fund 2018 scheme are now open. The Fund, which carries a total value of 40,000 euros and is open to both writers and publishers, is comprised of two types of grants – publication and education grants, each grant carrying a maximum of 5,000 euros.

On the webpage of the Malta Book Fund one can download the application form, as well as other guidelines, adjudication criteria and other important information.

Publication grants are meant to subsidise projects involving the publication of books in Melitensia, either in print form or as ebooks. Preference will be given to ambitious projects of high cultural content and relevance to Maltese society, especially when such projects might not be commercially viable because of the limitations of the local book market. The latter consideration in effect excludes all projects that are seen to be perfectly self-sustainable if distributed along well-established routes in the local market. Books based solely on imagery or photography are also excluded from the scheme. Translation projects are supported as long as they involve translation of works from foreign languages into Maltese.

Education grants will subsidise travel, lodging and participation fees incurred by projects that aim to promote the training, further education and research and development of authors, editors and publishers. In practice, the grants will support the participation of authors, editors and publishers in short courses that can be shown to be highly relevant to their field of work. This includes workshops, training sessions, study programmes and all kinds of educational experience related to writing and publication.

Eligibility criteria have been left sufficiently open-ended so as to be as inclusive as possible of different projects and initiatives. Regulations and restrictions still apply but the main criteria for the grants are concerned with the cultural value of the projects and their feasibility. A specially-appointed Board of Adjudication will evaluate each project in a rigorous application process that will ascertain both the value of the project and the need for funding. Two weeks will be allocated to the adjudication process, which will start right after the deadline for submissions of applications. It is important that applicants keep in mind that the ultimate aim of the Fund is to boost confidence in projects that will have a positive impact on the local book market.

The deadline for applications is Friday, 18 February 2019 at noon.