International travel fund for Scottish authors reopens

Scottish authors can now apply for up to £1,000 towards travel costs when they have been invited overseas to promote their work.

Photo by VOO QQQ on Unsplash

This fund from Scottish Book International has recently been on hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but is now open again for applications: full details and application form are available on the Scottish Books International website.

The types of things that this fund supports include:

• Invitations to be part of an event as part of a literary festival or at a literature or cultural organisation.
• Trips for publicity events to support publication of a work.
• Invitations for writers to present their work as part of trade fairs or conferences.
• Invitations to a residency or creative exchange overseas, where support for travel costs is sought.

Travel costs can include the cost of visas, where relevant. Priority is currently given to public-facing events that facilitate the promotion of a piece of work by the author.

As of 2022, the grant has supported 13 Scottish writers. Details of grants awarded are listed below:

• The Verb Festival, £1000, to bring Michael Pedersen to The Verb Festival 2019, New Zealand
• Hugh McMillan, £200, The Blash o God, France
• Brian Holton, £203.50, the Emily Harvey Foundation, Venice and the Festival Internazionale di Poesia di Genova, Italy
• Laura Lam, £80, Worldcon Dublin, Ireland
• Chrys Salt MBE, £1000, Tasmanian Poetry Festival, Australia
• Wendy H. Jones, £500, Manuscript to Marketplace Writers Conference, USA
• Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, £1000, to bring Irvine Welsh to Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2019, Indonesia
• Christine De Luca, £400, Partilha Alternativa Association, Portugal
• Gerry Loose, £175, 3rd Chengdu International Poetry Week, the Round Table Conference of the World Poetry in Chengdu, China
• Kevin MacNeil, £1000, Yamanashi University, Japan
• Christie Williamson, £350, Festa dos Anos de Ã’Lvaro de Campos, Portugal
• Helen McClory, £1000, Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters, India
• Damian Barr, £630, Events at literature festivals in India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

For further information and to apply, please visit the Scottish Book International website.