The Arts Council England has agreed to identify new contemporary novels from among the titles pre-selected for translation support and to propose them to UNESCO as potential new titles for inclusion in its Collection of Representative Works.

The novels will conform to the criteria for literary quality habitually adopted by Arts Council England when considering applications for translation support. In addition, they will have the following characteristics:

· They will be as yet unpublished or have only been circulated to a limited extent in English translation

· They will enjoy full visibility in their original countries and reflect important aspects of the original countries’ culture;

· As far as possible, priority will be given to texts from geographical and linguistic areas which are under represented in the international literary book market;

· They will be of outstanding literary quality and show potential as long-term sellers;

· They will not contain any expressions advocating violence, discrimination, social hatred or contempt for the mentality and culture of the social contexts described.

The first titles enclosed in the Collection of Representative Works under this new scheme will be published at the beginning of the next year.