New Books in German internship

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

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

The next internship will start in April 2024 and run for around six months. We will open for recruitment nearer the time. This is not an internship with regular hours, rather it is driven by the completion of tasks which are outlined below. You have a good deal of control over when some tasks are completed.  

You do not need to be based in the UK, but you do need to 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 organised around your existing commitments. However, you will need to be available for two jury meetings which take place on weekday afternoons.
• 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, where work is required by given deadlines. 

There is a £250 fee/honorarium for completing the internship. This should work at out roughly £10 per hour. There are time-sensitive tasks as we work 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 sit alongside other work, study, or caring responsibilities. We are working towards 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: