Taiwan Travelogue Wins International Booker Prize
Why this is here: The £50,000 prize—about $67,000—will be split between author Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translator Lin King.
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and Lin King won the 2026 International Booker Prize in London for their novel Taiwan Travelogue. The book is the first translated from Mandarin Chinese to receive the award. Judges praised the novel as both a romance and a postcolonial work set in 1930s Japanese-occupied Taiwan.
The novel appears as a rediscovered memoir following two characters on a culinary journey. Yang intentionally explored the differing perspectives of Taiwan and Korea regarding Japanese colonial history, aiming to reveal Taiwan’s complex past. Translator Lin King emphasized the book’s inclusion of humor and everyday life even amidst hardship.
Judges chose Taiwan Travelogue from a field of 128 submissions. Six books were shortlisted, including titles from Iran, France, Germany, and Brazil.
Each shortlisted author and translator will receive roughly $3,350. The work of understanding Taiwan’s past, and imagining its future, continues through literature.
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