Four foreign publishers will split LVL 5,000 in funding to help them release translated works by Latvian authors, the Rīga-based Latvian Literature Centre has announced.

The four were selected from 11 entries in an autumn competition for the funding, according to a Jan. 8 press release from the center. Funding came from the State Culture Capital Foundation (Valsts kultūrkapitāla fonds). A similar competition was held last spring, as well as two in 2007.

Translations to be published include:

• A Czech version of Liāna Langa’s Antenu burtnīca. The collection of poems was published in Latvia in 2006. The Czech translation by Petr Borkovec is to be published by Agite / Fra s.r.o. The publisher will receive LVL 1,000.
• An Albanian version of Sandra Kalniete’s autobiography, Ar balles kurpēm Sibīrijas sniegos. The book, already translated in several other languages, first appeared in 2001. The Albanian translation by Durim Taçe is to be published by the Publishing House SHKUPI. The publisher will get LVL 1,300.
• A Bengali version of Māra Cielēna’s Pasakas par diviem. The children’s book, which was published in Latvia in 2003, will be translated by Golam Hossain Habib and published by Bhashaantar of Bangladesh. The publisher will receive LVL 1,300.
• A Czech version of Pauls Bankovskis’ novel Čeka, bumba & rokenrols, first published in Latvian in 2001. The translation by Michal Škrabal is to be published by ARGO s.r.o. The publisher is to receive LVL 1,400.

Entries also were received from Denmark, Lithuania, Macedonia, Russia, Ukraine and the United States, according to the literature center.

Entries for this year’s competition are due March 1. Further information may be found on the Latvian Literature Centre’s Web site, www.literature.lv.