Fabjan Hafner Prize

Since 2017, the Fabjan-Hafner Prize has honored outstanding literary translation achievements between German and Slovenian and is aimed at professional translators who render literary, humanistic, or essayistic texts. With an endowed sum of €5,000 and a subsequent residency scholarship at the Literary Colloquium Berlin, the award not only promotes cultural understanding but also significantly contributes to the visibility and recognition of high-quality translations. The annual award is given alternately for translations from German into Slovenian and vice versa, thereby equally honoring both language directions.

The cooperation of renowned institutions – including the Goethe-Institut Ljubljana, the State of Carinthia, the Robert Musil Institute for Literary Research/Carinthian Literary Archive, the Association of Slovenian Literary Translators (DSKP), the Austrian Cultural Forum Ljubljana, and the Slovenian Book Agency (JAK) – guarantees an expert jury composition and a high standard of quality. The administrative processing is handled by Department 14 – Arts and Culture in the Office of the Carinthian State Government, which is responsible for basic and project funding under the Carinthian Cultural Promotion Act (K-KFördG 2001). Eligible to apply are private individuals who carry out translations in the aforementioned subject areas. Through the attractive combination of financial recognition and artistic support, the prize makes a sustainable contribution to strengthening literary cultural relations in the Carinthia region and beyond.