Submissions open for the 2026 Stevns Translation Prize and Calico Series

 

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TWO LINES PRESS AND CALICO SUBMISSIONS OPEN The 2026 Stevns Translation Prize is now open to emerging translators of Vietnamese. Two Lines Press and Peirene Press are excited to announce Bảo Tàng Lông [Museum of Hair] by Maik Cây as the selection for the 2026 Stevns Prize, which is open to translators of Vietnamese who have not yet published a full-length literary translation. Founded in 2018 with the generous backing of Martha Stevns, the Stevns Translation Prize’s mission is to offer opportunities to new voices in the field. This year’s winner will receive a $6400 / £4800 contract to translate the novel, which will be published by both Two Lines Press in North America and Peirene Press in the UK. The prize package also includes a translation retreat in an 18th-century mill house in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, a six-month mentorship with an established literary translator, and up to $1,000 in travel expenses. Entrants are asked to submit a translation of a selected sample of the novel and a 500-word translator’s note. The 2026 Stevns Translation Prize will be judged by established literary translator Nguyễn An Lý (Chinatown and Elevator in Sài Gòn by Thuận and Water: A Chronicle by Nguyễn Ngọc Tư), who will also be this year’s mentor, along with translator and author Vi Khi Nao and one final judge to be announced. Submissions are now open and will close on February 1, 2026. The shortlist and winner will be announced in early March 2026. ABOUT THE 2026 SELECTED TEXT This year’s selection, Bảo Tàng Lông by Maik Cây, is a daring and intimate novel centered on a fictional queer foremother: the reclusive artist Trần Bích Băng. When she dies, her abandoned apartment unveils a secret archive of women’s hair, each strand a memory of desire and connection. Across eight kaleidoscopic tales told by those drawn into her orbit—from a granddaughter tracing an inheritance of art and madness, to a trespasser uncovering her secrets—Băng emerges as writer, lover, prophet, and digital ghost. Inventive, haunting, and deeply tender, this visionary work explores memory, exile, and the power of storytelling to resurrect what has been erased. Maik Cây is an award-winning independent writer, playwright, and filmmaker from Hanoi, Vietnam. She is also the co-founder of Tieng-Thet, a queer creative group that works to amplify the voices of marginalized local authors and writers. Submit by February 1 Call for Submissions: Animal Stories in Translation Two Lines Press’s Calico Series is looking for stories that largely feature one or more animals for a forthcoming edition. This call is open to translations from any language into English. While we love cozy cat stories, we’re looking to be surprised by how animals appear in today’s fiction. Perhaps it’s a story about a human’s relationship to animals, or perhaps there are no humans in the story whatsoever. Work may skew toward ecofiction or speculative, may feature animals in captivity or the wild—the parameters are wide. Overall, we’re looking to feature writing with a strong attention to craft. We highly encourage translators of literature from underrepresented regions and demographics to apply, as well as those earlier in their translation careers. Submissions should be a work of fiction between 2,000 and 10,000 words, translated from any language into English. NOTE: We prefer standalone stories, but we will accept excerpts from novels for this Calico. That said, please make sure the excerpt works as a standalone piece. Submit by January 15 The Center for the Art of Translation (CAT) is a San Francisco–based nonprofit that champions literary translation and the translators who bring underrepresented global writers to English-language readers. CAT builds a vibrant cross-cultural community through its award-winning publisher Two Lines Press, dynamic events that connect readers and translators, and the educational program Poetry Inside Out, which brings poetry translation into classrooms.

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