The federal government will pump $4.25 million into English and French translation of books over the next three years, the Canada Council for the Arts announced Monday.

There will be $1.25 million in 2010-11 and $1.5 million in each of the next two years to help Canadian publishers get Canadian-authored books translated.

The Canada Council will administer the money. It is planning three pilot initiatives "to build capacity in the [publishing] industry and improve the quality of translations," it said in a release.

Among these initiatives is organizing a Translation Rights Fair to bring anglophone and francophone publishers together.

The council also plans to allow publishers to apply for support to buy the services of a bilingual editor or to hire readers who would assess whether a book is suitable for translation.

Heritage Minister James Moore first announced a book translation support program in March 2009.