The Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR), through the National Book Centre (CENNAC), launched a new funding programme for the promotion of Romanian literature abroad, ‘Romanian Books for Children,’ dedicated exclusively to foreign publishing houses interested in publishing books for children and young people written by Romanian by authors, informs a press release sent on Tuesday to AGERPRES.

‘In line with the ICR Strategy 2022-2026, we are launching this new programme dedicated to promoting written culture, this time focusing on children’s literature: ‘Romanian Books for Children’ is the first funding programme initiated and implemented by the Romanian Cultural Institute that aims to facilitate foreign public access to children’s and youth literature written by Romanian-language authors and to support their presence on the international book market, where a significant stage of development of this genre is currently being noted, which generates increasing interest. I am sure that through this new programme – this year in a pilot phase – we are welcoming Romanian authors of children’s books, who will thus have access to an increasingly important market, literature for young readers that mobilizes creators both in the field of literature and in the art of illustration, design and graphics,’ stated the president of the ICR, Liviu Jicman.

In order to publish in translation in 2025 books for children and young people written by authors in Romanian, foreign publishing houses are invited to submit applications for the first edition of ‘Romanian Books for Children’ by May 11, exclusively online, at rbc@icr.ro.

The grants awarded to a publishing house for a project are set at a maximum of 10,000 euros. They can cover up to 100% of the translation costs (without exceeding the amount of 3,000 euros) and, in certain cases, up to 70% of the editing costs (illustrations/graphics, layout, technical writing, proofreading, etc.), without exceeding the amount of 7,000 euros. For publishing houses that only request financing for editing costs, RBC covers a maximum of 9,000 euros of the eligible costs.

Funding will be provided within the available budget, and a minimum of three winning projects will be selected based on the applications submitted. For an objective and transparent selection, the received files will be evaluated by a committee composed of independent experts.

The results of the evaluation will be published on June 10, on the platforms www.cennac.ro and www.icr.ro.

The official regulations and program details can be consulted on the website www.icr.ro, in the ‘Information’ section or directly by accessing the link:
https://www.icr.ro/pagini/anunt-privind-deschiderea-sesiunii-2025-de-primire-a-candidaturilor-in-cadrul-programului-de-finantare-romanian-books-for-children-rbc

The RBC programme supports the translation and publication worldwide of illustrated volumes of literature for children and young people, both in the ‘fiction’ category and in the ‘non-fiction’ category (history, art, science, etc.), signed by Romanian-language writers and published in Romanian.

Along with the Translation and Publication Support Programme (TPS) and Publishing Romania, the new programme represents a diversification of the activity of promoting Romanian written culture abroad, imposed by the evolution of local written culture.