The John Calder Translation Prize

John Calder (c) Jane Bown, from Sheila Colvin-Calder archive

The John Calder Translation Prize is an annual award for translations into English of full-length ambitious, groundbreaking works of literary merit and general interest. The winner is awarded £3,000 and a runner-up is awarded £1,000.

The aim of the John Calder Translation Prize is to celebrate new and ambitious translations into English of full-length works (fiction, non-fiction and poetry) which are distinguished by the highly personal and imaginative approach of the authors to their subject. Submissions can be from any language into English.

Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, John Calder was known as one of the pre-eminent English-language publishers of exciting, avant-garde literature, and was a trailblazing proponent of fiction in translation, as well as a champion of the free word and a staunch promoter of authors who were suppressed or discriminated for political or other reasons. Under his stewardship, his publishing house brought out novels, plays and poetry by such literary luminaries as Samuel Beckett, Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Raymond Queneau, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Marguerite Duras, Nathalie Sarraute, Claude Simon, Robert Pinget and many others. 

The John Calder Prize is now open for submissions. Please apply below.
Deadline for entries: 31 March 2025.


The John Calder Translation Prize is an annual prize for translations into English of full-length ambitious, groundbreaking works of literary merit and general interest, from any language.

The aim of the John Calder Translation Prize is to celebrate new and ambitious translations into English of full-length works (fiction, non-fiction and poetry) which are distinguished by the highly personal and imaginative approach of the authors to their subject. The winner will receive £3,000 and the runner-up £1,000.

Works submitted to the John Calder Translation Prize should be ambitious in nature, by virtue of style, exploration of themes (gender, race, etc.) or complexity of the translation.

Entry Deadline: Monday 31st March 2025

Entry criteria

  • Entries must be translations from any language into English, though the source texts can come from anywhere in the world
  • Entries must have been published in the UK between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025
  •  Submissions must be made by the UK print publisher
  • Submissions must not contain the use of AI generated works
  • Maximum two entries per imprint.

Conditions of entry

The decision of the judges is final and they reserve the right not to award the prize if, in their opinion, no works entered reach a sufficiently high standard. Judges may call in books if they so wish.

Current employees (or anyone directly connected with the administration of the Society of Authors’ grants and prizes) or members of the SoA Management Committee may not apply for any of the grants and prizes administered by the Society of Authors.

It is a condition of entry that publishers will put the award logo or “2025 John Calder Prize Winner” or “Shortlisted for the John Calder Prize 2025”, on the cover of subsequent editions of winning/shortlisted books. We have designed roundels with this information on them if you’d like to use those.

How to Enter

Submissions must be made by the publisher.

Please upload a digital copy of the text in both languages to this application or send the files to prizes@societyofauthors.org.

Hardcopies of original source material must be made available on request from the judges.

Once this form is completed please send five physical copies of the translation (all non-returnable) to:

The John Calder Translation Prize
Prizes Department
Society of Authors
24 Bedford row
London
WC1R 4EH

Couriers should be advised to use the Theobalds road entrance.

The prize will be celebrated at the annual Translation Prizes ceremony in 2026. For any queries, please email prizes@societyofauthors.org.

Submissions must be made by the print publisher
The translation must have been first published in the UK between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
Maximum two entries per imprint
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
Please provide a short bio. This may typically include recent publications, the name, date, and details of previous prizes won, education, training, and career background, and pronouns.
I agree to abide by the conditions of entry. I confirm that the translator and translation meet the criteria for entry as detailed above.
By ticking the below you are confirming that you have permission to share all the above information with the Society of Authors team and sponsorship partners. We may invite you to take part in PR activities surrounding the prize but you are under no obligation to do so and will always contact you to ask your permission before giving your contact details to our media partners. To read our full privacy policy please visit our website: societyofauthors.org/Legal-Privacy/Privacy-Statement

The judges will be announced in Autumn 2025.

Sheila Colvin-Calder

Sheila Colvin has spent most of her working life in the arts. She worked at the Edinburgh International Festival for ten years, ultimately becoming its first Associate Director. She acted as General Manager of Aldeburgh Foundation (now Britten Pears Arts) and was a founder member of the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.

Alma Books

Alma Books was set up in October 2005 by Alessandro Gallenzi and Elisabetta Minervini, the founders of Hesperus Press. Following its takeover of the Oneworld Classics list in February 2012, it now publishes around forty new titles a year, mainly in the field of classics. Alma takes around forty per cent of its titles from English-language originals, while the rest are translations from French, Spanish, Italian, Russian and other languages. Alma Books includes the following imprints: Alma Books, Alma Classics, Overture (music imprint) and Calder Publications (founded 1950). The backlist comprises over 800 titles. Alma counts a dozen Nobel-Prize winners in its list and many more British and international award-winning authors and translators.