The Anna Droumeva Award
A bursary of up to £2,500 awarded annually to an outstanding international rights professional to enable them to gain a deeper understanding of a translation market and book culture
Anna Droumeva, founding director of Andrew Nurnberg Associates Sofia, believed that presenting an author’s work to an editor from a different country is best done by someone with knowledge of both cultures.
Anna was born in and worked from Bulgaria but her love of books and adventurous spirit expanded the scope of the agency to work first with Serbian publishers, then Macedonian and Albanian, and finally, in 2003, with Romanian publishers. Many of them gained a deeper understanding of the industry with her help while she gave her clients a new perspective on the Balkans and its publishing landscape.
The recipient of the inaugural Anna Droumeva Award (2022) was the literary agent Viktoriya Ma, director of Ovo Literary Agency, Kyiv. Viktoriya used the bursary to attend Frankfurt Book Fair 2022 and London Book Fair 2023 where she presented the work of Ukrainian authors and illustrators and made contact with editors from across the world for the first time.
The closing date for the second award is 31st July 2023. We look forward to reading your applications.
Anna Droumeva
Eligibility
Applicants must:
1) be employed at a literary agency,
in a publisher’s rights team
or work as a literary scout at time of applying
2) upload written applications in English
3) complete their bursary-supported travel
within one year of its award
4) apply using the online form below
5) apply on or before the last day of July
for that year’s award
6) agree to provide an account of their experience
to us following the bursary-funded travel
“Being at her side as she built the agency in Sofia was as much fun as it was a privilege. From Belgrade to Bucharest, Skopje and Tirana I am sure that I learnt more from her than she learnt from me: meeting with editors in their offices, at fairs, over dinner and at bars. We miss Anna terribly, but we are blessed by the warmth and determination that characterised her life and career.
Together with Mira, we are creating this annual award in Anna’s honour, to allow someone in our industry to make meaningful, professional connections through travel that they otherwise may not have been able to make.”
—Andrew Nurnberg
Contact
Andrew Nurnberg Associates
43 Great Russell Street, WC1B 3PD, United Kingdom
Telephone:
+44 (020) 3327 0400
Email:
