New Books in German internship

Would you like to see the New Books in German project firsthand? Are you keen to support the selection of books that we will feature and see what goes on behind the scenes?

Twice a year, we take on an intern to work closely with us from the initial submission of books by publishers to the final publication of recommendations on the website.

We are will next be recruiting for an intern in October 2024. Please check back here in late September/early October for the vacancy announcement.

The internship will commence in late October 2024 and last approximately six months. This internship is not structured around regular hours but is task-driven, offering a considerable degree of flexibility regarding task completion.

You do not necessarily need to be based in the UK, but you must be available during UK working hours for meetings.

What is it like to be an NBG intern?

What we offer:

• An opportunity to work with our jury, with members drawn from the publishing, translation and cultural sectors
• An insight into the book selection process
• The chance to see what is up and coming from German-language publishing houses
• A flexible internship where the majority of tasks can be organized around your existing commitments. However, you will need to be available for two jury meetings, which take place on weekday afternoons. These meetings will occur on Tuesday, 4th June, and Tuesday, 23rd July (dates to be confirmed).
• A good deal of opportunity to tailor the internship to meet your needs and interests
• Work is done from home. Meetings are held at the Goethe-Institut London but attendance via Zoom is possible.

What we ask for:

• Native speaker level English and a high level of spoken and written German; you are likely to have an undergraduate degree in German or equivalent
• Confident written and spoken communication skills in English and German
• A passion for German-language literature and/or for literature in translation
• An entrepreneurial, can-do attitude
• Ability to use MS Office
• Ability to use initiative and work independently, but to know when to seek guidance
• Ability to work flexibly as part of a team
• Excellent attention to detail
• Experience in using WordPress (desirable)
• Proofreading or copyediting experience (desirable)
• Experience in writing or editing for the web (desirable)

Internship: the role

Tasks will vary depending on the needs of the project, on your experience and your availability but could include some of the following:

• Preparing a reader report on a selected book (for which an additional £80 fee is payable to you)
• Writing an article or conducting an interview for the NBG website
• Translating information on books submitted to us from German into English
• Helping to prepare for and attending two jury meetings and taking minutes/notes. These meetings will be hybrid with the option of attending in person or online.
• Researching and updating a database of German-language publications appearing in English translation
• Researching information on books and authors featured by NBG
• General administrative tasks or other tasks that could reasonably be expected of an intern

The internship period spans six months—roughly the production cycle of one round of recommendations for our website—but there will be peaks and troughs of activity throughout this period. There will be weeks during this period when no work is required, as well as weeks when there will only be an hour or two. There will also be busier times when work is required by given deadlines.

There is a £300 fee for completing the internship. This equates to roughly £12 per hour, but the amount of work individuals want to undertake as interns may vary. There are time-sensitive tasks as we progress through the process, from initial submissions to the final publication of recommendations on the website. However, the internship does not require regular fixed hours, and the work can be done flexibly from home. It can be accommodated alongside other work, study, or caring responsibilities. We are committed to equal opportunities for all.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial assistance to those seeking work in the publishing industry. More information is available here http://booktradeentrysupport.org/

How to apply

To apply, please send a cv of no more than two sides and a covering letter that explains 

• why you are applying for the internship

• what you hope to gain

• how your experiences to date match what we are looking for, as detailed above 

We often get applications where people fail to identify how they match the criteria we list above in the ‘what we ask for’ section. If you do not demonstrate this, it is hard for us to know if you suit the role, and it makes it far less likely that your application will succeed.

You should save the CV and cover letter as one document with your name as the document title.

Please note that we cannot provide feedback on unsuccessful applications. 

According to our needs we may recruit for volunteers or interns to work on specific areas of the project throughout the year. These areas may include social media, marketing, impact assessment and fundraising. These internships will always be advertised on our website and social media.

You could be working on the selection of books like these most recent jury choices: