From ALEXANDRA BUCHLER, Director, Literature Across Frontiers
My reaction to the news that Arc Publications’ application under the National Portfolio Funding Programme was rejected by Arts Council England was shock, disbelief and outrage. Arc Publications is a leading UK publisher of poetry in translation, the least commercially viable genre, which cannot survive without subsidy. In cutting its subsidy, ACE betrays its goal of achieving great art for everyone and broadening the international scope of the literary scene, and makes its own public statements ring hollow:
“We want to continue to support excellence in areas that the market would not otherwise support, particularly poetry. - We also want the best literature from around the world to be available for British writers and readers and will continue playing a role in introducing translated work to England.” (From Achieving Great Art for Everyone: Literature appendix)
Arc Publications, with its commitment to bringing contemporary poetry in translation to readers in the UK and beyond, is widely respected and admired in literary circles in the UK and abroad. The withdrawal of its entire subsidy makes mockery of the above statement and threatens to further reduce the already low number of translated titles published in the UK.