293. Taiwan Travelogue wins the International Booker Prize

Taiwan Travelogue, a novel by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translated by Lin King, has become the first book originally written in Mandarin Chinese to win the International Booker Prize. Yáng and King were announced as winners of the £50,000 prize, which they will split equally.

There were five other shortlisted titles, and I have read only one of them, “The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran” by Shida Bazyar, translated by Ruth Martin. The book had earlier won the Bloggers Literary Award.

“The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran” is a compelling story about revolution, oppression, resistance, and the longing for freedom, divided into four parts. The first part is set in 1979. Behsad, a young communist revolutionary, battles alongside friends to establish a new order after the Shah’s removal. It recounts moments of hope, covert political activities, and his meeting the love of his life, Nahid. 

The second part is set in 1989. Nahid is living her new life in West Germany with Behsad. Along with their young children, they spend many hours listening to the radio, waiting for news about others who went into hiding after the mullahs came to power. 

The third part is set in 1999. Laleh goes back to Iran with her mother, Nahid. While engaging in beauty routines and uncovering family secrets, she encounters a Tehran that is very different from her childhood memories. 

And the last part is set in 2009. Laleh’s brother Mo cares more about a friend’s heartbreak than student protests in Germany. However, the Green Revolution begins in Iran and causes global upheaval.

The other shortlisted books were The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin; The Witch by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump; She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated by Izidora Angel; and On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan.

I was hopeful for The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar. However, since I am not aware of other books, I hope the panel has made the right decision, and I respect it.

A statement released by the organizers states that Taiwan Travelogue is a translation of a “rediscovered memoir by a novelist who travels to Japanese-occupied Taiwan in 1938. During her journey, she explores the local cuisine with an interpreter, whom she falls in love with. The book includes fictional footnotes and afterwords authored by the characters, along with genuine ones by King, creating a layered metafictional element around its central love story.”

Asked about the inspiration for Taiwan Travelogue, Yáng explained that while “both Korea and Taiwan were once colonies of the Japanese empire,” Koreans “seem to feel uniformly resentful of that history, whereas Taiwanese people regard it with a much more conflicted mix of distaste and nostalgia.” Using a contemporary Taiwanese lens, I wanted to untangle the complex circumstances Taiwan’s people faced in the past and to explore what kind of future we ought to strive toward.

This year’s prize was open to long-form fiction and short-story collections translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland from 1 May 2025 to 30 April 2026.

Yáng and King are the first Taiwanese and Taiwanese-American recipients of the award, which honors the top fiction translated into English. The original Mandarin Chinese edition received Taiwan’s highest literary accolade, the Golden Tripod award.

Let us celebrate Taiwan, which has an uncertain future. It was a coincidence that this morning I heard Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te say that Taiwan's future should not be decided by foreign forces but is instead in the hands of its 23 million citizens.

He said he was still willing to engage with Beijing, which cut off communication with Taipei in 2016, but only through “orderly exchanges” based on the principles of “equality and dignity”.

I am with Taiwan.