Taiwanese Novel Wins Booker International

Yang Shuang-zi’s Taiwanese novel, Taiwan travelogue, received the Booker International award on Tuesday. This marks the first time a novel originally written in Chinese Mandarin has won the prize. The novel follows a Japanese novelist traveling through 1938 Taiwan with a guide, exploring the island’s cuisine and uncovering a hidden secret.

Published in 2020, Taiwan travelogue won the U.S. National Book Award for translated literature in 2024.

Lin King translated the work into English, though a Spanish translation is not yet available. The Booker International prize splits its roughly 29,000 euro award equally between author and translator.

Judges described the novel as recovering lost colonial stories. The selection process considered five other finalists, mostly written by women, in languages including German and Portuguese. The award has previously boosted the careers of authors like Han Kang, whose The Vegetarian won in 2016.