Work grants for literature: new fiction in the making
The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia has this year awarded work grants to 21 authors from all four linguistic regions in Switzerland for a literary project. The selected projects include works of poetry as well as numerous novels by established and up-and-coming voices.
With work grants amounting to CHF 25,000 each, the Swiss Arts Council provides the financial backing that enables authors to create new works of literature. This year it received 127 applications for such a grant from all four linguistic regions of Switzerland. Based on a proposal by the relevant jury, Pro Helvetia awarded a work grant to 21 authors – 13 from the German-speaking, four from the French-speaking, three from the Italian-speaking and one from the Rhaeto-Romanic speaking part of the country.
Numerous novels promise to emerge from the work grant year 2020, including ones by well-known writers such as Christian Kracht, Noëlle Revaz and Andrea Fazioli. Lyrical works are also represented, by the likes of Baptiste Gaillard, Walter Rosselli and Vera Schindler-Wunderlich, who will be producing new volumes of poetry on the back of the grant. And Rhaeto-Romanic readers can look forward to a new novel by Flurina Badel.
Swiss authors are entitled to apply for a work grant provided they already have at least one work of literature to their name, issued by a reputed publisher. Once the work supported by the grant has been published, Pro Helvetia remits an additional CHF 4,000 to the publisher and the author as a contribution towards the promotion of the book.
Media information:
Lisa Stadler
+41 44 267 71 51
lstadler@prohelvetia.ch
Media Release
Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, 2 July 2020
