Supporting discovery, not just production
A new EU-backed initiative is shifting how translation enters the European publishing ecosystem by supporting the earliest phase of the process: discovery. The Archipelagos Project, co-funded by Creative Europe and Bulgaria’s National Culture Fund, offers scouting residencies to literary translators working between 22 different languages, many of them underrepresented in global markets.
Rather than focusing on fully translated books, the program provides translators with resources and time to explore new works, write synopses, translate short samples, and prepare pitches. These scouting residencies aim to bridge the gap between cultural production and international publication, especially for works written in languages that rarely travel beyond their borders.
Translators at the frontlines of literary exchange
The project positions translators not only as mediators, but as active literary scouts. Over 100 translators are expected to participate by 2026, engaging with authors, publishers, and literary scenes in countries including Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain, and the Czech Republic.
Work produced during the residencies feeds into a network of workshops and events that connect translators with editors and agents. These sessions focus on identifying promising titles, refining sample translations, and understanding what publishers need to consider when acquiring new voices for international release.
Spotlight on lesser-used languages
While English remains dominant in global translation flows, Archipelagos emphasizes the value of works written in languages with lower export volumes—from Catalan and Basque to Czech, Turkish, and Arabic. By empowering translators to scout and promote such titles early in the process, the initiative hopes to diversify what reaches bookshelves in other countries.
The program also addresses structural gaps in the literary market: lesser-used languages often lack the visibility, funding, and publishing infrastructure to generate interest abroad. Archipelagos responds by putting investment into the earliest stages of circulation, well before foreign rights are sold or translation grants secured.
A decentralized cultural strategy
Led by France’s ATLAS association and coordinated with eleven partner organizations across Europe, the project reflects a broader move toward decentralized cultural policy. Instead of focusing only on major publishing hubs, Archipelagos supports local translators, smaller publishers, and regional languages through cross-border collaboration.
Whether the program will influence long-term publishing trends remains to be seen. But for now, Archipelagos marks a significant effort to rethink how translation networks function—and who gets a voice in shaping them.
